A call to courage
Chris White
Connecting with great people fast tracks Business growth, NOW Group helps you find those people, create influence and build relationships | Advocate for Small Business | Connector | Networking Facilitator | MC & Speaker.
From a Stress and resilience coach.
Courage is a daily pursuit and without consideration or intention with regard to this variable we can allow small acts of avoidance, compromise or concession that feel like ‘nothing’ that fast become something or everything. In other words avoidance, apathy even small incremental acts of cowardice can lead to a growing problem that we conveniently decide was ‘out of our control’ because we allowed incremental omissions and choices to stack. Then a nexus of will-ful ignorance and proverbial ‘ostrich mode’ land us in hot water or worse.
Why am I talking about courage?
Well courage is one of our greatest allies in the face of challenge and by extension stress. By fronting up to challenges we change our mental posture, we filter for positive feedback even under duress and we surrender to the value of difficulty itself. The simple (although often difficult) act of fronting up can be the difference between excitement and fear this is not a small thing biologically speaking. When we move toward phenomena by choice we bring more of ourselves to bear on the problem and we maintain access to our best;
But this article is not solely about physical courage it’s about a particular kind of courage that I believe is of the highest necessity right now and may require all of the above as the year progresses.
Here in New Zealand distant lands such as Europe, America, China can feel like far off places and their problems can seem too distant as to be wholly relevant to our day to day. Perhaps under standard circumstances this is true, however the courage I am calling for essentially is 3 fold;
Why am I making this call to people to get out there and find out whats happening globally and go about it in a less than conventional way?
The WHY: A serious but humble prophecy.
The levels of comfort we have maintained here in NZ and particularly Canterbury are exceptional since 2019. Currently we punch above our weight in terms of economic stability and growth tables and with high levels of migration we are sustaining where others are contracting. Certainly economically and even in terms of populous locally. This has been a fortunate and singular privilege during this tricky period and will be helping the NZ economy as a whole perhaps more than we Cantabrians know!
This will change by some degree or even a severe order magnitude in the next 18 months
However how will it change? What could shift that trajectory? What could our role be as the global politics continue on their current heading.
Here’s where you come in.
I am asking you the reader, the audience to consider the impact of certain world political and cultural events and what they could mean for the Kiwi economy. I would love to hear from different sectors on how they will navigate further disruption to global economies and instability on the world stage if 2024 keeps progressing as it has begun. So to do that I want to update you with 4 issues from far flung places that could see us impacted before much longer.
If you haven’t followed these international scenarios I urge you to pick one and try to understand it. In doing so you may become illuminated in regard to the global realities. We are in a time of great unrest and New Zealand can only stay in a bubble for so long. So I have put together this article to encourage you to bravely seek information on these profoundly potent issues and then submit a comment as to how they may affect the New Zealand economy.
What follows are 4 of the briefest synopses in fact they could even be labelled as hints or teasers. To explain them fully would take an article each and I am laying a gambit for you to do your own research and make your own conclusions but ultimately trying to light a touch paper to your awareness. I see these as some of the most significant scenarios where raised awareness, moving further in to 2024, will become useful. Disclaimer: viewed as social complexes or singular events each of the discussion points below carries weight for mass impact here in the Southern Hemisphere despite their current distance in fact it seems unlikely that any one secluded spot on the globe will evade the seismic effect of these current affairs, in the fullness of time.
So please read on and contemplate what they may mean to you, your business or beyond this call to courage is to face down these difficult subjects in the hope we can bring them into the light and prepare better within our communities.
Ask yourself in what way might this change my approach to 2024?
The widespread farmers protests
This story should be of particular interest to New Zealanders as this is one of our core industries and generally speaking what happens in Europe, UK and the US never takes too long before it bleeds into our culture. So without going into huge detail it’s worth noting a plethora of countries farmers have conducted mass protests in response to a mix of disruptive legislative proposals and a decrease in financial support for production. Spotlighting Germany specifically as an example, their mass revolt is a backlash against planned budget cuts that are aimed directly at farmers. These changes prevent subsidies for fuel and decreased Tax exemptions for plant. Announced near the end of December by the Olaf Scholz government that took the reins in Germany last year. This alone is perhaps dismissible as nothing more than farmers rebuking necessary change but when you combine that with John Kerry’s DAVOS address that suggest the best way to begin sustainably feeding the world is to immediately drop food production? Yes you read that correctly - see this video here from the horses mouth .
His argument relates to emissions and it would be salacious to ignore that context. But the models claiming that heat decreases food production are being directly challenged. In emerging literature the trends are consistently showing the warming of the planet is what drives carbon levels up (not the reverse) and ironically that carbon production could actually be protecting vegetation against drought and increasing growth. In other words the carbon is net positive and may even be a natural eco-systemic phenomena, the research body grows daily. This is a complex issue but I for one cannot see how decreasing food production can be a good thing as population increases to 10 billion (predicted stability at this point by 2050). Changing how we farm could have value environmentally and ethically FOR SURE but bankrupting farmers will not help this one iota. My hope in highlighting this issue is to curry support for our great producers on home soil and to be ready to stand with them in whatever challenges they and we face together.
Earth is greening
Countless articles and studies are showing this the world over.
Protest the articles (there are many)
Romania
France
领英推荐
Germany
Spain
North Africa and the Middle east
This situation regardless of your position on the specifics is undeniably volatile and to what level is perhaps beyond absolute empirical measure. Israel has committed itself to the destruction of Hamas and the results is hyper aggressive deployment of its awesome weaponry against the whole Palestinian occupied western front region. Simultaneously Netanyahu has attacked targets of Syrian origin and assets of Iranian designation. In short there is a somewhat unsubtle hint towards a war with Islam. I will avoid a particular stance on all of the above as my opinion is not relevant to this section of the article however whats clear is this multifaceted conflict is pulling in other actors the UK and US has a naval coalition in conflict now with the Yemen to prevent Yemeni Houthis from thwarting supply chains to Israel. What does this mean for New Zealand who exactly knows? However when you consider the context of a concurrent major conflict some few thousand miles north west in Ukraine all of a sudden the Indo-Eurasian super continent certainly looks hellbent on a period of severe violence. Some key areas of fallout include; Farming (food supply hmm) Energy supply to Europe, Economic stability, Oil price. What do you think this means for New Zealand? Please share your thoughts…..
Mass US Migration
Astounding numbers of people’s have been crossing the border between Mexico and the US. 2.3 million last year in total and already 700,000+ in the first month of 2024 (at the time of writing). This is no insignificant reality coupled with the potential for Joe Biden to legalise these aliens so they can vote and the potential for instant credit cards being made available to them in certain states. It’s not to too hard to see this has the potential to be interpreted as the most open election influence committed by a standing government in the history of any democratic system and at a scale unforeseen. This cannot be good for American stability and therefore global markets. Whats more Texas has responded by ring fencing its border and refusing to cooperate with the US Federal government in regard to their border control. This is a significant move toward internalised conflict within the interior of the US especially when you take into account that 25 other states have backed the Texans decision and some have even pledged resources. This taking shape in the form of National Guard and border force assets being donated. There is signifiant political unrest stateside to say the least, in an election year………
Ignore this at your peril
Disease - X
It seems our recent plight at the mercy of a virus whose origin is still opaque and whose impact is yet to be fully understood across multiple domains of analysis has left at least one spectre in its wake.
Paranoia
I am not mocking the circumstance (learning from that time is a given) the feeling, the turmoil of the Corona months. That would be a ridiculous notion however something strange has emerged and nowhere was it more extroverted than at the WEF Global forum. Stark warnings of a theoretical Disease X that will undoubtedly enter our lives in the not too distant future. The claim being that pandemics are inevitably about to increase in frequency and alas no real scientific justification for such a claim is elaborated upon. That is to say there is little to zero evidence of currently circulating disease that will be this dangerous but fortunately we are engineering potential cures for the theoretical possibility while creating mockup lethal viruses to practice upon. I hope the last sentence reads as at least a little absurd to you because if it does not then what can possibly be done?
I am fully cognisant that the above dips a toe into the realm of conspiracy theory however I propose that we learn a definition of such words to decide upon their use and validity and therefore suggest a revised perspective on the judgement of such matters.
Conspiracy - An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
Theory - A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural (or unnatural) phenomena.
From the above you can glean that Journalists and policeman might, by technical definition, engage in the practice of conspiracy theorising in the pursuit of truth. Of course theorising is not the end of that particular professional line but it is for sure the departing station. What could of course be considered to be and ends may be the desire to uncover enough truth or evidence to support the initial hypothesis or claim. In other words we all have to start with a theory and then work toward truth using evidence. Dismissing theory is often merely an act of intentional cognitive simplicity, understandable but not necessarily a useful long term strategy.
As for claims I make none specifically with regard to Disease-X I only highlight the paranoia evident at the WEF’s global forum and the fact that one of their Vaccine expert speakers is an ex-software engineer, who is ‘in-famed’ for being a key collaborator in data sequestering for the American government, an open secret when I was in the military as a comms specialist. He was also an expert in software viruses and how to beat them when they arise, it’s an interesting turn of events that he might now be in the medical field in this particular domain of expertise, epidemiology?
So luckily these great men and women have it all under control and are preparing for any random emergence that may need to be dealt to. To gain further reassurance follow this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX7w6Sg7yqQ#ddg-play
Then perhaps follow onto this article laying out how expert the Chinese are becoming experts in ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome’ https://theintercept.com/2021/10/21/virus-mers-wuhan-experiments/
So we will be prepared globally, phew.
But what does this all mean for New Zealand once again who knows BUT and its a decent size BUT. I would offer a supposition that the potential for turmoil of such a magnitude that we will see distinct and notable shifts in the behaviour of our economy. As such we could all do well to be as educated and forthcoming with preparations leading into the rest of what is already been an interesting year, in just 38 days.
Why is this a call to courage, I engage with a number of people weekly in my professional capacity and a worrying number know little to nothing of the scenarios laid out above and worse still immediately withdraw when they are offered them in conversation. I get it, you have enough on your plate. Here’s the issue
A problem avoided only grows.
Stress management 101: deal with something before it gather more steam. Front up. I won’t harp on about this piece of common sense and its import on many academic levels of but I will say this,
Change is heading our way, maybe chaos.
To get ahead of it will require courage so please be brave and follow at least one of these perplexing threads. To avoid is to increase the snap effect when things catch up to you. The world has been shrinking and yet right now so many Kiwi’s are insulated, bubble wrapped, the quicker we rectify this the better.
There are few junctions in history where such engagement with global issue is pretty much demanded, I would wager this is one and it is - singular.
Who will you choose to be in this moment? A deer in the highlights or a crafty Kiwi?
We will see, good luck from a concerned citizen.
I help business owners and managers make better hiring decisions by providing hiring expertise, strategy and resources. Outsourced and fractional recruiter
1 年Yes so important Chris to find the balance between being aware of the potential for massive change with three major elections happening in the world this year, but also not slipping into fear and assuming the worst!
Progressive Breathing
1 年I agree with the need for courage in facing global challenges, but I also believe that proactive measures such as investing in learning, personal self-care, and sustainable development all outside of mainstream and government control are equally important for long-term resilience.