The Last 2 Years and The Rest of Your Life

Over the last two years, we have observed three ridiculous behaviors:

1.?????Extreme opinions that focus only on the most extreme of scenarios.?Some of the stuff I have heard from individuals and on the news sounded crazy to my ears (and was in reality) and much of what was possible was simply non-factual and conjecture. Throughout recorded history, those exciting and dramatic prognostications have almost always been wrong. Once again, the death of life as we know it has been greatly exaggerated.

2.?????Listening to the media.?They are always incredibly accurate with the tactical story. However, the application of the information to the larger world and practical reality is most often inaccurate. They are truly experts at entertainment and dramatization, yet I am shocked at how gullible listeners are to what is shared in the media.

3.?????Ignoring what is learned.?Month 1 of the pandemic was worlds apart from month 6, month 12, month 24 etc. We kept learning. We developed a vaccine. What worked and didn’t work?became much clearer. Why have I continued to hear from too many sources how bad things are? Yes, we have challenges. In my life every year has been a challenge and the challenges change over time. Also, every year myself, my team, my organization, and my family?have?improved capabilities to better handle the challenges.

The Reality (what really happened):

1.?????We had amazing productivity gains.?Recently I spent ? a day with a respected economist. He believes that we may be able to avoid or significantly shorten and soften our next economic downturn with the advances spurred from the pandemic. Our business and our clients’ companies are more efficient, able to span larger distances, and can move more swiftly and clearly to take advantage of tactical and strategic opportunities. The people we work with are having more fun.

2.?????Families, individuals, teams, and organizations were jolted.?It caused a large percentage of us to rethink what was important and to realign what we did and how we did it. Reevaluation causes better lives and increased results earlier in lives. In our client base alone, most of our clients were able to accelerate their 5 Year Strategic Plans. Their families got closer with better relationships. Overall, too many organizations, individuals, and families are metaphorically?hiding in?a closet going?backwards,?losing capabilities of achieving and competing in the future (not our clients, they would not stand for it).

3.?????For the last 4,622 years of recorded history, this was another up and down, just like normal.?If you don’t read history, go back and study what has happened, and this wasn’t anywhere near some of the major events that have occurred. And within what was negative, there was also positive. My experience and research says that among events that everyone lauds as great, there are seeds of destruction. Rarely is anything as great as is stated; rarely is anything as bad as predicted.

4.?????Government entities have severely reduced abilities.?I have talked to several friends in government. Every one of them has indicated that their employers (federal and state government) have gone greatly backwards since government employees won’t or don’t want to come back to work, but still want their paychecks. The national passport agency, the DMV, the IRS, licensing bodies: 100% of them have given me personally absolutely horrible customer service and in some?cases were unable?to give any type of service. Regulatory bodies give conflicting interpretations of regulations. While this has been their performance for years, it has been worse over the last 2 years and looks to?be?getting worse.

The Rest of Your Life:

Our clients, as usual, have been searching for how to maintain a good environment, strong culture, job security for employees, and solid business practices that improve employee capabilities (so they can improve benefits, provide a solid career path, bonuses, tools). The focus on these issues results in achieving long term goals that are helpful to everyone (individuals, teams, organizations, communities, and our country). In the pursuit of that, three clear themes and practical applications become exceptional clear:

A.????Self Awareness:?how did you react to this last round of crisis?(or was it an opportunity)? Did you act out of fear or were you searching for great answers, new opportunities, and the wisdom to learn from what was happening? If you responded out of fear, what do you need to change internally to invest the rest of your life riding the wave of challenge. We see families, leaders, teams, and organizations looking for programs, experiences, and exercises to assist those around them become more self-aware. It is a true and powerful capability in our ever chaotic and changing world.

B.????Inner Purpose:?those with strong inner purpose, we observed them moving smoothly into what happened the last two years and?they learned?from what was happening. They never?stopped?living their purpose. They enjoyed the journey and brought others along the path and gave hope to people in danger of giving in to the publicly broadcast belief that life was over as we knew it. Human beings are capable of magnificent things, but they require a strong inner core and other people with a strong set of useful beliefs to accomplish what is supposedly, at least in the public belief, to be impossible.

C.????The Culture:?as I have gotten older, I have come to believe it is all about the culture. Without a strong culture that is aligned with the strategy, you might as well throw the strategy in the trash. Our clients are especially interested in finding and retaining employees that have strong self-awareness and inner purpose (and they are willing to give up “I.Q” for “street smarts”). Those people keep the world spinning when times are tough, and times always get tough, and they continually improve and get tougher… They want people that don’t fear, but do whatever it takes to fulfill the promise of what they and their organization said they would do. How do you hire the right people in an exceptionally difficult job market and mold your culture to support your strategy??

If you are looking for self-awareness, inner purpose or molding the culture for you, your team, family, and/or business, let me know at [email protected] or 919-368-9008. We can help you and your culture achieve great goals through the next supposed crisis (or is it an opportunity) and enjoy it!

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