If not you then who and if not now then when?

I have been mulling this over a lot. Whilst many of you reading this know me fairly well there will be just as many who have never had a conversation with me.

Today the unemployment figures were released and there were sadly no surprises, in January South Australia lost 7300 jobs, 5800 of the full time. That's a lot of family units in a lot of pain, that's people struggling now to put food on the table.

Youth unemployment grew by 3.1% to a staggering 10.8% and we have the highest under employment in the nation right now.

So here's the challenge, why are we waiting for government to solve this? They clearly can't and what's more many of the decisions taken by the COVID ready committee have exacerbated the issues outlined above, so why?

When I started my first Business Social Media AOK, 10 years ago I carved it out of thin air. I did it by emailing my then three thousand LinkedIn connections and asked them to spare me 30 minutes and let me buy them a coffee. Not to sell to them but to get to know them. To understand how I could help them be successful and the impact their success would have on the wider community and the economy at large.

Like all of us I got busy, added The Duke of Brunswick and BNI Adelaide North to my responsibilities and made this less of a priority over time but the reality is that a a leader in business, as someone who acts rather than debates, I have a responsibility to this State which I profess to love to be one of the people creating opportunities for others.

It is the business community that will save the South Australian Economy not the government.

Don't think me na?ve, I understand the governments place in the ecosystem but that ecosystem is now broken. I spoke to well over one hundred business leaders at the Business SA lunch yesterday, all of them in agreement that we stand on the precipice, that the problem is real and the solutions are ours to find.

So where do you fit?

Here is what I am doing, I have reached out to some of you to start the conversation about how we as business leaders commence leading our states economy in the right direction. How we get back to all doing what as a State we do better than anyone else - network.

With the loss of the corporate Christmas season we lost the engine for the first quarter of 2022. All those hundreds if not thousands of client and supplier events that were cancelled are traditionally the birthplace of new relationships, ideas and business deals. We need to fill up the tank and start the engine. Not by selling to each other but by getting back to supporting each other and making the introductions we can - connecting people to people for mutual benefit.

If you have read this and made it this far, here is my suggestion. Ask yourself who are the 6 people in your network you admire the most, the thought leaders, the action takers. When was the last time you had all of those people sat around the same table? When was the last time you got together with the sole intent of creating opportunity for others or for each other?

It's time. Business has always been done in this State over breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffee. I know I grew three businesses out of nothing off the back of a philosophy that it is always the relationship that matters. I am asking you to join me. Lets truly show the rest of the country the real power of a Networked SA. Get out your contact lists and your calendars knowing that every meal you eat alone is a wasted opportunity that could have changed SA for the better.

I am going to step down off my soapbox now lol. That said I hope if you read this and like me want to be a part of the solution, that you will reach out between us we can stimulate the economy and create the opportunities in ways that only ever happen after a good meal and intense conversations.

Simone Douglas?

CEO Social Media AOK | Publican The Duke of Brunswick Hotel

Executive Director, BNI SA - Adelaide North

Author | Seriously Social | The Confident Networker

Level 1, 207 Gilbert Street Adelaide, SA 5000

M:??0411166320 |?E:????[email protected]