Last week I attended a Denver Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on the state of small businesses in Colorado. Among the opening remarks was the admonition “turn off your television!” In this week’s Denver Business Journal, columnist Ben Leichtling wrote about the business costs of whiners and nay-sayers. Bad economic news is a lot like an accident on the side of the road: it’s hard to drive by without looking, even though I really don’t want to see the mess. So I’ve been thinking about alternative routes that detour around the wreck. Alternate routes may be slower but they’re often more scenic and offer a fresh perspective on the same old drive.
A coaching colleague mentioned last week that she’s putting her attention on marketing for when the upturn happens. A client facing a layoff has put together multiple financial scenarios and is starting to lay the groundwork for a new career. A friend who lost her job is taking a class to acquire new technology skills and increase her marketability. Choosing a different route right now means moving from the present tense to the future tense in our thinking.
In the face of layoffs, flat income, reduced resources, there’s an interesting question that shifts attention from “not” to “possible”. The question is – what does this loss free me up to do? Like the kid who stands on the edge of the pool and refuses to learn to swim until pushed in, people tend to resist making changes until something is nudging them to do so. After some initial sputtering and shouting, though, most find that the water is unexpectedly fine.
The current situation is causing people to be more conservative with their resources and also to be more transparent about their financial limits. I have the sense that we’re being a little more honest (with ourselves and others) about what we can and cannot afford to do. There’s a double benefit here. Besides the impetus to re-evaluate needs and priorities, my friends and I are being more authentic and transparent with each other about feeling the pinch. In the marketplace, the downturn has generated more small enterprises, start-ups and shoe-string innovations. In many cases, losing a job has freed people up to follow a vision or an inner stirring or a long-deferred dream. In person networking and interactive on-line social technologies are replacing shiny, impersonal and expensive marketing campaigns. As a result of being thrown in the water, we are finding the freedom to be more authentic about whom we are and to reach out and connect with others with whom we share some common bonds.
The state of the external world, I think, is reflecting our interiors: the fears and foibles but also the inherent desires of (almost) all humans to connect and help each other through it. The vicissitudes of any human journey are unpredictable. But as long as I’m in the driver’s seat of this mature, optimism-fueled vehicle, I think I’ll stop driving by the car wrecks. Instead, the map offers a wide array of blue highways. Care to hop in?
