What will "we" do in 2009?
Have you ever heard the phrase “taking poison hoping the other person dies”? It refers to getting angry at someone for something and that anger does more damage to your health than anything that happens to the other person.
We see this at the Daley Institute in a small scale compared to a whole country. For example, when we started with one of our clients we described the culture as “Toxic”. People at all levels of this company were posturing to take out their “adversaries”. Everyone was taking “poison” and bitter. We made some changes to silence the trouble makers (purveyors of poison) who had no interest in the success of the company. We improved systems and processes minimizing scrap and maximizing quality output. Four months later an employee’s wife came in and said her husband actually came home happy every night and she enjoyed their talks. What happened, she asked? We all worked together for the good of all. Management and workers began communicating and working through issues. The company is continually improving its health.
“If you don’t like something Change it!
If you can’t change it Change your attitude.” Maya Angelou
We usually retain most employees and managers by getting them to communicate, realistically understand each other’s role, risk and reward. We get buy in on vision and goals. We eliminate the peddlers of “poison”. Amazing things happen.
Who is “we” in the original question… Americans! Let’s think about that statement for a minute.
We have survived two world wars and an attack on us at home on 9/11. That’s just recent. We have survived weather challenges. We have survived economic challenging cycles. I would suggest to you that we are our biggest enemy.
Let me suggest that we not take “poison” or feed “poison” to the country by trying to take out the Democrats and liberals in the next elections. We can work with the Democrats like we thought they should have with President Bush and the Republican leaders in Congress. We can negotiate from our principles and values finding middle ground. Why find middle ground? Because about 40% of this country is liberal leaning and about 40% of our country is conservative leaning and about 20% are in the middle. We have a belief at the Daley Institute: “None of us are as good as all of us!” I would suggest that the USA should have the same belief.
So, I’m suggesting we show the rest of the country how to fight for the whole country. Let’s fight for appropriate taxes and laws to keep our economy in harmony. I’m assuming we all want jobs and money to pay for our bills. Let’s fight against high taxes, government bail outs and give away programs that will harm our kid’s future. If our economy is healthy and prosperous the government will have to tax less to pay for our governmental bills. But let’s respect our fellow Americans that lean towards the center and liberal perspective. We are all a valuable part of our society.
I believe the government is quickly learning that if the American public sits on their hands in fear all the actions of the government is useless. The best the Democrats can do is blame the Republicans and vice versa. So “we the people” need to rebuild our country and our economy and stop looking to Washington.
- Banks are not lending so businesses are concerned about liquidity and consumers are worried about the businesses.
- Consumers are not spending because they have no confidence in current and future cash flow.
- Will they be able to pay their bills next month?
- People are being laid off and their retirement investments are seriously diminished. This is more of a worry than the value of their house.
- People being laid off feeds the fear of the consumer which makes them want to spend less.
- Businesses are concerned about the ability to fund short term cash flow and roll over long term debt. So they are letting employees go to mitigate the risk.
- Sales for businesses are dropping because of consumer spending so they are laying off employees.
Does anyone else see a vicious cycle here? How will the government assure businesses of liquidity availability. How will governent assure consumers of long term jobs? It appears to me the solution is in getting the businesses funded and healthy so employees (consumers) feel comfortable enough to start consuming so the businesses can stay healthy. We need to communicate without the hate and anger and with all of our best interest in mind. We need to understand our roles, risks and rewards we chose and contribute to the best of each of our abilities.
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.
John F Kennedy, President, USA
I believe it was Warren Buffet who said “There are two kinds of welfare, one comes from the government and one comes from the trust department of a bank, they are both destructive!”
So I humbly suggest that we do not take “poison” or give “poison” hoping are opponents die. Continue to turn off the talking heads and hateful biased media and entertainment industry regardless of your political persuasion. If you think it’s biased turn it off! Take control of your mind and attitude.
I suggest we put our actions where our words are and have an orderly and respectful transition of power as we profess to the world. Let’s welcome President-elect Obama and his administration and join me in saying a prayer that he leads with all our best interest in mind helping us improve the future soon for our families, fellow Americans and world. Most importantly, let’s do our part to start the economic recovery now. We can chose to continue our toxic culture or be like our client that built a culture and system that makes all stake holders proud; I voted we rebuild our great country and world together! We can lead the world out of this challenging time now!
You can say this is “pie in the sky” but the alternative is ugly and will impact our loved ones. We do it with clients and they are always amazed at the transformation of the culture, productivity, creativity and quality.
Good luck to all of us, we are building our future!
John R. Daley, CEO
The Daley Institute
