The Upside of a Down Economy

We are surrounded 24/7 with doom and gloom.  Constantly we are reminded of how the economy has weakened, consumer confidence is shattered, and fear is all around.  So I have been thinking a lot lately about the upside of the down economy and here is the list I have compiled so far:

• Less of an attitude of entitlement
• More of a sense of humility
• Trend toward appreciating the simpler things in life
• Re-commitment to jobs (even if out of necessity)
• Realization that money does not grow on trees
• An awakening to reality instead of a "keep up with the Jones"
• Less talk about retiring early
• Focus on a long term perspective professionally and personally
• Emphasis on family

A few weeks ago, we asked an elder in our church to describe what it was like to live through the Depression.  He had many memories, but said that the positive aspects were the increased focus on family and faith.  Trust in the family and having a commitment to a religion were the cornerstone to help people deal with the conditions of the time.  

The baby boomers have heard Depression stories from their parents and grandparents, but we did not think we would have to change our standard of living.  The trend has been bigger is better and more is valued and the momentum was that we wanted it sooner rather than later.  Retire early and make sure we have a second home somewhere warm or in a destination location.  Now it is time to wake up!

I am sure there are other positives about this down economy, but I think Tom Brokaw said it best on MSNBC this week:

"We need to reset our economy rather than view this as a cycle.  Now there is an heightened sense of consciousness of interconnectedness.  People are realizing that we are all in this together.  We have to reset our expectations, create a new kind of ethos, and focus on values--what really matters."

Brokaw said he heard someone say, "This is the time to get rich slowly" perhaps the old fashioned way.  What is so wrong with all of this?  We can make a positive out of a negative. 

What are some of the other positives of a down economy?  I would appreciate hearing from you. 

Slumdog Millionaire and Wisdom

I was thrilled with the recognition of eight Oscars received by the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  It was a movie that I could not stop thinking about--good over evil, hope over despair.  In the end, the brothers both "end up in the money," but how they get there is by following different paths.

The movie reminded me of sage-ing which is defined as the synthesis of wisdom from long life experiences in order to formulate this wisdom into a legacy for future generations--for those who will follow. 

The main character was able to answer the questions by reflecting on his often traumatic life experiences.  While he did not have many years of experience, he had many life experiences and he was able to draw upon them for wisdom.  For example, he knew intuitively who to trust and not trust.

The movie also showed other aspects of sage-ing such as repairing life relationships and of the power of forgiveness.  It was a winner in so many ways because it was full of life lessons.  Watching the child actors on the stage was a heart warming scene that will remain with me.  The beautiful music was just a bonus. 

Eat, Pray, Love

Last week I had the chance to hear Liz Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, speak at the Smart Talk Series.  She was the "Queen of Quirk" coming out in almost pajama bottoms and her hair up in pigtail-like bunches.  She was smart, quick witted, clever, and I found her to be as authentic as she could be.

Liz shared the journey she has been on since the success of her book.  Even though her book has been on the New York Times best-seller list for two years, she did not set out to write a blockbuster book.  She said that if she knew how to do that she would have written the blockbuster book the first, second, and third times!

I always carry paper and a pen with me to any speaker--commencement speakers and sermons included because I am almost sure there will be something said that I want to write down.  This was what Liz said last week that I wrote down:

"If you don't begin listening to the whispers, you will have to begin listening to the screams."  

Liz was referring to life and how we have to listen to what our intuition and body is telling us.  Since her book, Eat Pray Love, is about her spiritual journey through three Is (Italy, India, and Indonesia), people think she has discovered the answers to life and ask her for advice. She closed with this advice: 

Be gentle with yourself.  

Good advice. 

Slow Down--You're Moving too Fast!

We are so accustomed to fast--fast driving, fast Internet, fast food.  We are addicted to speed and we want it to be fast.  If we have to wait for anything, we get impatient.  But what if it is worth the wait?

I had the chance this week to hear Kurt Friese who is a leader in the slow food movement.  There were many life lessons that he shared that resonate with sage-ing.  He said that we mistake frenzy or business for efficiency and that we tend to feed ourselves the same way we fuel cars--fast and with corn!

I loved these two comments: 

• We are all going to the same place in the end.  Are you in that big of a hurry to get there?
• We are what we eat.  Does that mean you are fast, cheap, and easy?

When it comes to food (and to life) we should relax, slow down, and enjoy the process.  We should be mindfully eating--paying attention to what we eat and savoring it.  Kurt concluded with "speed is a dangerous thing."

If we think about people who have pushed life to the limits, it often ends badly or sadly.  Since the most memorable moments are usually those we spent around a table "breaking bread together," we should learn more about the slow food movement. 

We should eat good food, well prepared, and share it with good friends.  I will drink to that! 

My Favorite Tag Line

A tag line should be something a person can easily remember and there are some good ones that we all can recall just as Just do it! by Nike.  But the one that resonates most with me is from Caribou Coffee:

Life is short.  Stay awake for it.

That simple line communicates a great deal.  It always stops me in my tracks and makes me think:

Am I really awake?

Am I spending my time the way I want to be spending it?

Or am I just "sleep walking" through life?

It reminds me to BE HERE NOW.  How about you?  What are you doing right now?

Thoughts on Dancing and more

They often say that as we age, we become freer and have less hang-ups.  We can become more of whom we are and less of whom others want us to be.  Well, after decades of college teaching, I have decided that if I could start every class with dancing as Ellen DeGeneres does on her show, then I would be a happy camper, but I am not so sure all of the students would be happy.  Ellen even had Kurt Warner dancing on her show! 

Everyone on the show looks so happy as they are up on their feet dancing to the music.  I would love to do that because not only does it get your heart rate going and you can feel your spirit, it is an interactive and energizing way to get engaged with whatever is going to happen next.

But I have to remember that while I love to dance, not everyone does and I need to be respectful of my students.  So I have only had them dance about five times in the last 20+ years and two of the days were in the last week.  I think I am loosening up in my years of life experience.

Since Ellen has made me think about the kind of environment I want to set (fun, happy, yet informative), I read an interview with her recently in the March issue of the Ladies Home Journal.  There was a quote that grabbed my attention:

"Most days the thing I am striving for is not to be funny or fabulous, but to simply be a good person.  I work every day to try to get better and to treat people with kindness."

That resonates with me.  I always says that "quality is personal.  Organizations improve when people improve."  Trying to be the best person I can be and to treat people with kindness is my kind of goal. 

How about you?  What is your motto that guides your life? 

Motivating Employees in Difficult Times

There is no doubt these are tough times.  When people lose their jobs, organizations suffer in many ways.  Even the people left behind suffer from "survivor syndrome" and wonder when they will be cut next.  Harvard's John Kotter, author of Leading Change and  Sense of Urgency, says that

"People spend their time racing around, often looking for and using the employee equivalent of firearms.  They create battles that get the company nowhere.  They get defensive, look for scapegoats get in turf wars, meet endlessly, and end up exhausted.  High potentials will often jump ship.  Productivity and customer service often suffer just when high performance is a must."

According to Douglas Klein, Preisnde of Sirota Survey Intelligence, the following steps can help employees deal with anxiety and uncertainty during these economic times:

• Build a partnership culture:  trust, joint decision making, open communications, fair treatment.
• Create and communicate "rings of defense" before downsizing:  Management needs to be open and honest in taking steps to avoid involuntary layoffs.
• Focus on the behavior of immediate supervisors and managers:  It is important to be consistent between words and actions to create an environment where people are respected.
• Paymore attention to the high potential employees who are likely to leave in difficult times:  Develop a retention strategy to keep great people.
• Create ways for all employees to contribute to goals:  Develop gain-sharing programs so that employees are rewarded for contributions.
• Ask employees for help in developing solutions:  Involving employees increases power and feelings of belonging.
• Don't stop performing employee assessments:  Monitor stress levels, perceptions, and feelings.

If there is a theme to remember it is this:  Stop managing people as expenses in the budget and start realizing they are assets who provide value. 

Why wouldn't organizationswant to retain high performers? 

What happens when the economy turns around and the best people have left for organizations that valued them? 

Who is left?

Ted Turner Reflects on Life

Ted Turner, founder of CNN and author of his new autobiography, Call Me Ted, was on 60 Minutes talking about his book and his life.  I found many of his comments interesting and surprising.

Ted explains how his father was practical and wanted him to major in business, but he decided to major in the classics at Brown University.  He recounts how his father said to him, "There is no question but this type of useless information ... will set you apart from the doers of the world ... the courses won't do much to help you learn to get along with people in this world.  I think you are rapidly becoming a jackass."

The rest is history.  Turner became a doer building the Turner Broadcasting System, pioneering the first 24 hour cable news channel, and becoming a significant philanthropist.  According to Turner, "I would have not been as successful if it had not been for my classical background ... it made me a better businessman."

As Tom Brokaw pointed out in the interview, Turner has done well living by a quote that goes like this:

"You can't control or worry about the wind; you can only adjust your sail."

Those are words we should all live by.  In these uncertain economic times, a liberal arts education teaches one to think, be flexible, and to be creative.  Doing well in business depends on relating well with others, reflecting on experiences, and continuing to learn.  

Thanks Ted for endorsing the liberal arts education.  It is more about preparing people for life than for specific jobs.  And as we know, jobs are coming and going faster now than ever before.  Hopefully, the best is yet to come. 

Fear is Everywhere

We are living in a world of paradox.  In order for our economy to get going again, we need to have confidence, yet we are surrounded by fear.  We are bombarded with unemployment figures, home foreclosures, news of pink slip parties, crumbling consumer confidence, most jobs lost in a month in almost 35 years, decreasing sales in all industries, emails from friends who have lost jobs or know people who have. 

In an age of technology, news travels fast via email, RSS feeds, and texting. The 24/7 news seems to fuel the fire by reminding us how bad things are right now.  How can we gain confidence when people continue to reinforce the fear by talking about it on television and blogging about how bad it is.  

According to Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, said "The media messages that are repeating doom and gloom affect every one, not just people who really have trouble and should make changes, but people who are fine.  That has a devastating effect on the economy."

How are we going to gain confidence so that we can get our economy going again? 

What should we do? 

Slow Blogging

I read an article about blogging in the New York Times in November that caught my attention.  It was about "slow blogging," a practice inspired by the slow food movement which says that fast food is destroying local traditions and healthy eating habits.  Likewise, slow bloggers believe that news-driven blogs such as "TechCrunch and Gawker are the equivalent of fast food restaurants---great for occasional consumption, but not enough to guarantee human sustenance over the longer haul."

The article continues to say that "slow blogging is a rejection of immediacy.  It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly ... It's being quiet for a moment before you write and not having what you write be the first thing that comes out of your head."

Since part of being in the now involved slowing down and appreciating moments, I like this idea of slow blogging.  While I am sure my blog coach would disagree, slow blogging allows me to put some thought into what I am writing.  As an academic person, I am sure my posts are too long.  But I write best when I have something to say worth sharing.  For me, I guess that takes some time.

But I will continue to read, think, reflect, and write.  I am glad I am blogging whether anyone is reading or not.  Is anyone reading?  Thanks Mike Sansone.