Strategy Insight

Without a doubt, we are experiencing one of the most painful economic periods within the last fifty years. Far too many people have lost jobs and it is still uncertain that we have reached the low point in this ever-widening crisis.

Yet, as the holidays roll around, I find that I am becoming much more optimistic about the opportunities that I believe will soon appear. There a few reasons why I feel this way.

First, I believe that we are developing a new understanding of our connection to one another. I see more and more people delivering encouragement to their neighbors and looking for ways by which they can strengthen one another.

Sometimes, it shows up in small ways. Here’s one.

This past weekend, my community experienced a very heavy snowfall. A year ago, you would have seen each homeowner shoveling his or her own homes.

This year, it’s been different.

Me and women, young and old were working together to shovel each other’s driveways. There was a palpable sense of we were all in this together. And everyone seemed to appreciate this sense of teamwork.

The second reason that I am optimistic is because I think that after all of the bailouts and the scandals and the anger for the lies and greed, Americans want to believe and trust again.

Much has been said and written this election year about the desire for change. But I sense that it is more than change for its own sake that people want. People want integrity and honesty.  They want transparent governance and leadership. They want an end to the philosophy of looking out for number one. They are recognizing if I am only for myself, then who am I.

People want to believe again. And they want to trust their government, their community and business leadership and their family and friends. They want to experience and demonstrate moral courage.

What all this might augur is a shift in what we value and how we view each other. We are learning that our business leaders are not worth admiring if they are judged by how much they earn. Rather they should be judged by their practices and the way they have earned their fortunes.

Character matters.

And indeed, learning this lesson seems like a pretty good gift for the holidays.

Happy holidays to all.

This entry was posted on December 24, 2008 at 12:31 am and is filed under Leadership, Sales, Strategy. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.