Posts

That Was the Year That Was

/in /by

That Was the Year That Was

There was a television program, I think it was back in the 1970’s or 80’s, called That Was The Week That Was. It was a British show that in Canada had the titled shortened to TW3. Being a British Show, it took the typical British tongue in cheek view of the news of the day. I want to resurrect the name with a twist. 2020 TW3 – That Was The Year That Was.

Leaving 2020 behind.

Certainly, there have been other years that carry the same feelings, family health issues or deaths, job losses and other similar difficulties in the passage of life. But I believe 2020 should win the title and the Crown, as the most, in nearly every category of significance.

We began the year with the most successful economy in American recent history. For instance, we saw the lowest income quintile see their net worth rise 37% while the top quintile held steady (Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances). A tight labor market forced employers to raise wages and the minority workers, black and brown, as well as women, saw their net worth rise 10 to 20 times their white male counterparts. The economy seemed to be performing exactly as society would have wanted.

Then the Pandemic hit. “The depth and breadth of its economic disruption was greater than that of any postwar recession.” “The distribution of the job losses was completely different than what one usually sees in a downturn.” “Low-income earners were the hardest-hit group.” (WSJ 2020 in Review) This downturn affected women and people of color disproportionately. Service businesses, restaurants, barber shops, hair salons, bars, gyms, etc. were declared non-essential services, by various governments, and shut down. Many of those business will not return having already declared bankruptcy.

Then the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police brought the sight of violent riots and demonstrations to the nightly news. Society, as we knew it, was being fractured. Let us remember this is not the first time this has happened. Not by a long shot.

And of course, we had the election in November which showed a seriously split electorate. Roughly 80M versus 75M split between Democrats and Republicans for the Presidency. Significant gains by the Republicans in the House and basically a stand still (at this writing Georgia has yet to vote for the Senate) in the Senate. Thirty of the Sates are controlled by Republicans and twenty by Democrats. Pretty much a “schizophrenic” voting population.

Finally, a Vaccine. One the most amazing feats in modern medicine is the research into, development of, the actual testing regimes, and regulatory approval of vaccines to stop the spread of the Pandemic. Politically they called it “Warp” speed. Now the roll out of the vaccinations to the world is underway.

That Was the Year That Was alright. But I don’t need a repeat of this year again in my lifetime. Thank you.

Earlier in the year I read a remarkable book by George Friedman, an author for whom I have much respect, titled “The Storm Before the Calm.” It is an incredible read from a very astute author. If you haven’t read it get it, you can thank me for the suggestion later. Which brings me to my thinking today.

I believe that 2021 will be a year in which we “reset” our businesses. If we had our eyes open, we learned a lot.

  • that we could have some job functions “Work From Home” a new acronym WFH. This also exposed us to a lot of office building space being superfluous to our needs.
  • the critical nature of “Internet Based” Businesses. Our need for 5G internet speeds and significantly most robust security tools on our systems.
  • how to conduct “Virtual Meetings” with previously unheard-of businesses like Zoom becoming a house hold name.
  • how education was changed in ways that no-one had foreseen. This was a change that was necessary to happen as student debt for University education had become the largest single debt in America.
  • that Companies generally have procedures in place for upskilling their workforce. Teaching employees what they need to move up in the organization, such as management skills or technical knowledge. Reskilling workers, to move them to a different role, is very different today.
  • We learned how to save money. Americans have accumulated $2 Trillion in new savings since February.

And we learned that we had choices to make in our lives. Those of you that know me will understand me when I say I refuse to be a victim to what goes on around me. I am too stubborn to let that happen. I want to always find a way to make things work. Work better if at all possible. That is my belief and it has driven me my whole life and I see no reason to change at this point.

So, I would ask all of you to stand and raise your glass with me. I am going to “KICK” 2020 out this year. Much more than I am going to welcome in 2021. We are going to see a remarkable 2021. The world will start to return to normal and with a fresh optimism we are poised to do remarkable things.

The time is now.

The Times We Live In

/in /by

The Times We Live In

I have just finished an incredible book by a man I consider to be one of the best thinkers on the planet today. His name is George Friedman, and the book is “The Storm Before The Calm.” With everything going on in the world today I thought it would be appropriate to introduce this book.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I would like to change that. I disagree. I believe that the only thing that we have to fear is the unknown. With the worldwide fear associated with the novel Coronavirus infecting more than a hundred nations I believe a great deal of the panic surrounding this virus is more about the unknown than anything else. In our lifetimes, we have not experienced this type of emergency in our country.

This is where Friedman’s book comes in. He talks about two major cycles in the history of the United States: the Institutional Cycle and the Socioeconomic cycle. One typically spans eighty years and the other spans fifty years. In the 2020 – 2030 decade both of these cycles, for the first time in our history, occur within the same decade.

Today we live in highly polarized times. In my recollection, there used to be a time when two people, or groups, of differing political leanings could talk to each other. Now, it seems as if everyone is in their own echo chamber. The political parties continue to create “identity” groups and we are labelled with “derogatory” labels if we don’t agree with the other side, no matter what the side.

Most of you are aware of the challenges facing the educational community today. There is huge student debt, supported by federal government guarantees. There is elitism at the major Universities. There are professors who are grossly underutilized. There is almost too much happening. Into this world comes internet-based learning. This is the arena in which we are directly involved at Learning Without Scars.

Friedman puts forward a very interesting thesis regarding the future state of education. It is both timely and well worth the read. I trust that it will provoke some thinking for all of you.

The Time is Now.

Leadership in the New Reality

/in , , /by

Leadership in the New Reality

 

 

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Lt. General Russel L. Honore U.S. Army Retired. He talked specifically about “Leadership in the New Normal” and “Don’t Get Stuck on Stupid.” Both of those subjects triggered thoughts and memories. (You can get both subjects as books)

After the disaster of 911 in the United States I gave talks at associations and dealer meetings around North America and Europe on what I called “The New Reality.” These talks were met with mixed reviews, some positive and others not so much. Let me take a deeper dive into why we had different views with a quote from George Friedman. “The mortal enemies of intelligence are time and wishful thinking.”

The New Normal the General is asking us to consider consists of some of the amazing changes we have seen in our world over the past twenty years; the nearly instantaneous transmission of information, the extreme population densities we are experiencing in cities, the extraordinary interconnectedness and mutual dependence of business; the rise of terrorism, and the growing ranks of the poor.

I ask often, with the trillions of dollars spent on technology over the past two decades, how much has been spent on sociology to understand what people will be going through with Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Autonomous Vehicles.

The New Reality from my perspective involves our ability to attract and retain talented employees from an ever-declining working population and the generational differences between the “Baby Boomers” and “Millennials.”

This is where I ask people to consider what we call “Sacred Cows.”

At the start of every classroom training session I have conducted over the past fifty years I have asked for three definitions.

  • What is the definition if Ignorance?
  • What is the definition of Stupidity?
  • What is the definition of Insanity?
  • Ignorance is not knowing what to do.
  • Stupidity is knowing what to do but not doing it.
  • Insanity is continuing to do what you have always done and expecting different results.

This takes me to the core of my work today. Everyone needs to be constantly investing their time in improving themselves professionally and personally. If you don’t continue to adapt to this new reality you will become irrelevant. Is that something that you aspire to?

The Time is Now.