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What’s going on and
where are we going?
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Almost
10 months after the banking and Wall Street meltdown, I
spent much of my time trying to figure out how to move
my business model in a direction that will ensure
continued success. Analyzing how our economy got into
this mess has led me to look at the history of our
country and to try to find past situations for
comparison. What many people told me was that we had
faced harder times and that we always came out of it
stronger. With such a promising outlook being predicted,
I dug deep to find out how we got here and how in the
past we pulled out of our nose dives.
Many
books and discussions later I came across “How we got
here” by Andy Kessler. Finally I found somebody who I
could relate to, and who truly understood both the
engineering and financial side of our national economy.
His book takes us through the true growth of our
nation’s output and explains how we made the gains in
productivity, how technology moved us a step ahead of
our competing nations, and how being first to introduce
the next great tool or process allowed us to reach the
top and prosper. Simply put, we had the advantage of
science and process and we used it to keep growth and
productivity ahead of all others. No matter what the
financial markets did, we could always use our true
science to pull ahead and keep us productive and
profitable. Bad political decisions, banking mistakes,
wars, natural disasters, and no matter what, the U.S.
charged ahead. Like a life preserver strapped onto us,
we used technology and science to grow food faster,
travel faster, live longer, stay safer, and in the end
bettered the individual’s lot in life.
Then
it happened. The growth of our competitors, the hunger
in their populations belly, the ability to transfer (and
steal) information, stripped away our ability to
“outsell.” The loss of competitive and innovative
direction took hold. Even when new ideas could be
developed, they could be quickly spread to nations and
executed without the gain coming back to us. While we as
a country became more comfortable with our rising
standard and ease of living, our true output was losing
steam and our ability to regenerate valuable marketable
output that could be consumed in a world market
declined. That is where the story is now stuck. A nation
without markets. A nation that thinks our government can
control demand. A nation that thinks we can lend to
ourselves to keep us afloat. The best analogy I can
think of is we are trying to lift ourselves off the
ground by pulling up on our socks.
Yes,
Andy Kessler’s explanation does explain our greatness
and even more clearly shows us the weakness we have
built into our system. From all my readings I will now
summarize how we will make our way back (maybe somebody
will pick up on my list and write the next book “Where
we are going and how we will make it happen”). |
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Jet
Pilots Don’t Use Rear View Mirrors
Because the world is changing rapidly, you need to look
ahead, not back
Used with permission of Joel H. Weldon &
Associates, Inc.
http://www.SuccessComesInCans.com
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 Commercial jets
cruise at about 600 miles per hour, which is the equivalent
of ten miles per minute, or three-and-a-third city blocks
per second.
At that speed,
the pilot does not look back. And at the speed at which the
world is changing, you shouldn’t look back either. Like a
jet pilot, you need to concentrate on what’s up ahead.
To understand
just how fast the world is changing, consider this. All the
knowledge acquired up until 1750 doubled by the year 1900.
That was 150 years.
It doubled
again in just 50 years, between 1900 and 1950. The next time
it doubled, it took only fifteen years, from 1950 to 1965.
It doubled again between 1975 and 1980 — a period of just
five years. That is rapid change.
And in the last
28 years, mankind’s knowledge has been multiplying beyond
comprehension!
A number of
years ago, Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, presented
a dramatic illustration of this by describing the history of
mankind compacted into one calendar year.
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No Socks Day: An Excuse to
Prospect?
by Kendra Lee, President,
KLA Group
reprinted with permission
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 I’m always looking
for a new reason to connect with a prospect that
hasn’t yet responded to my emails.
Clearly
triggering events are the number one message to center on,
but what if they haven’t responded? After 3 or 4 emails I
find myself trying to establish my personality so the
contact will begin to feel as if he knows me and want to
reply.
However, that’s
hard if all I ever talk about are issues they might be
facing and how I can help. It starts to sound repetitious
and boring. If I don’t mix it up a bit, my email will hit
the contact’s delete barrier before it’s ever opened!
Add some fun
to your communications as it gets later in the email
prospecting game. You’ve received St. Patrick’s Day and
Thanksgiving cards, of course. But what about sending a
quick email that says something like this?
Friday’s No Socks Day! Can you believe it? Someone
actually came up with a day for not wearing socks.
Apparently if we all skip our socks for one day it
reduces laundry and helps the environment. Go figure!
It’s a fun little tidbit I read and thought you might
find amusing. As hard as we’re working, we all need a
few extra laughs right now!
I’d still be interested in speaking with you about . . .
now mention the triggering event . . . Can we set a time to talk
next Tuesday at 3pm?
Let me know. I look forward to your reply – and enjoy No
Socks Day!
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