We have now drifted into the third year of GFC (that is the Global Financial Crisis and specifically NOT Going For Coffee) and everyone is STILL nay-saying the economy and waxing gloomy about the prospects for this year.
What do you think for this year? Do you see any signs of improvement? Do you think we are out of it? Do you think it will continue? In the questions we should see the answers. The point is that nobody really knows, and everyone seems to be turning to friend, neighbor, family member, and random guy on the street waiting for the light to change to see if the light will really be changing or not.
And what color will the light be? And what will it mean?
Any of you in the banking sector and financial service industry who may be reading will pooh-pooh me and my adopting an overly simplistic attitude toward the GFC - and you are probably right. It is always safer to be Eeyore and drone along with the half-empty-glass philosophy ad nauseum. There is a certain self-fulfilling prophecy in this. We predict the Worst; we wait for the Worst; and, sooner or later but more often sooner than later, we GET the Worst. Hurrah for us! We were right! The world really has gone down the crapper!
Enough, really.
I therefore am establishing a Crisis Free Zone. In this zone, which will encompass both myself and people within the immediate vicinity, the glass will be officially half-full. The Crisis Free Zone is ambulatory, moving with me to all of my meetings, gatherings, receptions, and maybe even to the gym. The Crisis Free Zone is constructed of only a few key materials and, I believe, should be built to last. Some of the materials to be used in its construction include 1) getting back to work; 2) reasonably healthy optimism; 3) adaptability; 4) confidence that the world has not yet ended.
The GFC is not only a socio-economic phenomenon. It is a viral infection. The banks caught it by playing outside in the snow with no hat. They spread it to industry. Industry spread it to distribution. And distribution has exposed the consumer. The consumer (i.e., you and I and the random guy at the traffic light) is a hypochondriac. Some consumers may have actually contracted the virus, but most are merely worried sick about becoming sick through worry. When we think that we could catch something, we usually find a way to do so. We often speak about a market in terms of "consumer confidence" - it is either up or down, high or low. But in reality, consumer confidence is always high. The consumer is always confident that the Good Times will last forever and that Bad Times will have no end. Until something changes it one way or the other.
Hence the Crisis Free Zone. In this Zone, the only real rule is just to get on with things. So much time has been wasted during the past three years of the GFC in belly-aching, self-pity, complaining, crying, and commiserating that we can lose sight of the reasons for it. The main reason being that things used to be better. Why? Because we worked at it, and we believed in it, and we behaved as if it were normal.
Gentle Readers, this does not in any way undo any of the damage that we have allowed the GFC to cause in its path of destruction. Nor does it underestimate the task ahead. But in creating this Crisis Free Zone, my intent is to reignite the spirit of keeping calm and carrying on. Moreover, this will never work if it is only I who invoke the Zone. I encourage all of you to do so. Let everyone make a Crisis Free Zone around him or herself starting today (well, ok, Monday let's say). Adopt the initials "CFZ" into your signatures. Let everyone know that we are not at home to Mr. Crisis.
PS: My next project will be to create a mobile Smoking Zone but suspect it will be slower to catch on....