The New Normal? I Don"t Think So
A few weeks ago I attended a conference in Tampa and the Keynote speaker, a thirty-something, way too young and wonky executive from a large software company stood behind his podium.
Behind him was his first PowerPoint slide.
In large bold type the heading read: "Profiting in the New Normal".
He went on to expound on the new realities and how we should all adjust our marketing, sales techniques, new pricing models etc.
to suit a New America with much lower expectations.
Excuse me sonny, but last time I checked this is still AMERICA: the most prosperous and productive economy in the World 14.
1 Trillion Dollars annual GDP! Our nearest competitor, Japan has 1/3 our GDP.
China and Germany combined don't total 1/2 our GDP? New Normal? I do not agree.
In 30 years working at my company, I have witnessed and survived three previous recessions: one in the early 1980's, one in the early 1990's one in the early 2000's and now this one.
Spot a trend here? They all have one thing in common: they are ugly, fear-making, destructive to the careless and instructive to those who are paying close attention to the bottom line.
They also have this in common: they come to an end, people go back to work, industry rebounds (better than before), birds chirp, couples marry, kids are born and, after a time, we forget they ever occurred.
When I was a young man just starting out in my business I had never seen or experienced one of these.
It was nasty and scary.
I tried laying the "new normal" line on my father who at the time was my boss.
He called me an idiot.
He said "Son, this will pass.
There is no time where people will not want things or want to better themselves, their lives or their homes.
Everything is temporary".
He was right.
He and his wisdom passed in 2006...
everything indeed is temporary.
There is an entire generation of young and talented people who joined the ranks of working folks during the most prosperous decade in our nations' history.
They only knew one direction on the bell curve of prosperity: straight up.
I would tell them the same thing my father told me: we enter these things hard, we adjust, cut, taper and reform our business so we can stay in the game.
We become BETTER executives and merchants as a result! One thing for sure, is that as hard as the entrance is, the exit from recession is nuanced and at times, almost imperceptible, but the transition to normalcy, real normalcy eventually happen.
Before you know it, this recession, "Great" or otherwise, is history.
In the words of Winston Churchill: "Never give up, never surrender"...
[to the new normal].
There is no New Normal for those who choose to struggle and not accept it.
As for my company and my people, we will not capitulate.
Behind him was his first PowerPoint slide.
In large bold type the heading read: "Profiting in the New Normal".
He went on to expound on the new realities and how we should all adjust our marketing, sales techniques, new pricing models etc.
to suit a New America with much lower expectations.
Excuse me sonny, but last time I checked this is still AMERICA: the most prosperous and productive economy in the World 14.
1 Trillion Dollars annual GDP! Our nearest competitor, Japan has 1/3 our GDP.
China and Germany combined don't total 1/2 our GDP? New Normal? I do not agree.
In 30 years working at my company, I have witnessed and survived three previous recessions: one in the early 1980's, one in the early 1990's one in the early 2000's and now this one.
Spot a trend here? They all have one thing in common: they are ugly, fear-making, destructive to the careless and instructive to those who are paying close attention to the bottom line.
They also have this in common: they come to an end, people go back to work, industry rebounds (better than before), birds chirp, couples marry, kids are born and, after a time, we forget they ever occurred.
When I was a young man just starting out in my business I had never seen or experienced one of these.
It was nasty and scary.
I tried laying the "new normal" line on my father who at the time was my boss.
He called me an idiot.
He said "Son, this will pass.
There is no time where people will not want things or want to better themselves, their lives or their homes.
Everything is temporary".
He was right.
He and his wisdom passed in 2006...
everything indeed is temporary.
There is an entire generation of young and talented people who joined the ranks of working folks during the most prosperous decade in our nations' history.
They only knew one direction on the bell curve of prosperity: straight up.
I would tell them the same thing my father told me: we enter these things hard, we adjust, cut, taper and reform our business so we can stay in the game.
We become BETTER executives and merchants as a result! One thing for sure, is that as hard as the entrance is, the exit from recession is nuanced and at times, almost imperceptible, but the transition to normalcy, real normalcy eventually happen.
Before you know it, this recession, "Great" or otherwise, is history.
In the words of Winston Churchill: "Never give up, never surrender"...
[to the new normal].
There is no New Normal for those who choose to struggle and not accept it.
As for my company and my people, we will not capitulate.
