Some may cite the failure of the IMF to stave off the financial crisis, but this is short sighted since the failure rests on multiple shoulders in a complex basket of contributing factors. It is quite unfortunate that major multilateral initiatives (such as the proposal of the IMF) only get implemented after a painful and destructive disaster. But alas, such is the hard-headed nature of mankind – wait until a fork in the road to stop and think about the direction that one is heading.

Leadership lesson: don’t be so hard-headed. Leaders need to always think about the direction that they are headed and the direction that they are leading their organizations. You can’t wait until a problem arises, until your market share is diminishing, until your competitor comes out with a revolutionizing product, or until your core business is irrelevant. Leaders need to look around the corners and anticipate the future. This is a main difference between leadership and management: managers seek to continually improve what the business is doing; leaders seek to continually drive what the business is improving.

The mood of the United States and the World, for that matter, seems to be rather gloomy and pessimistic. Hearing the rhetoric out of Washington about pending “catastrophic” consequences if we don’t pass a nearly trillion dollar stimulus bill certainly doesn’t help. The news reports also are upsetting with record job losses, continuing declines in our economy, the loss wealth of many retirement accounts, and other effects of the recession.

With all that is wrong with the current state of the world. I want to share the Optimist Creed. I think one of the fundamental tenants of being optimistic is not about naivety or ignorance, but just the outlook. The perspective that says, I know how bad things are in the world, but for my personal outlook, I am moving beyond the forces of negativity, beyond pessimism.

Getting Back to Achievement

I am remaining hopeful that tomorrow things will be better. In time, the recession will pass and will become history like all other recession and even the Great Depression. This is not failure, but merely a learning opportunity from which we can build a better future. This is not a desolate end, but an opportunity for a new beginning.

This is an opportunity for us to pull out of the mire, gain the strength from this learning experience, and forge a better future without such an experience for another 70 or 80 years. It’s an opportunity for us to set goals that next time we will go a complete century before the next recession. It’s a goal that an entire, future generation will not experience the pain and hunger of widespread panic, but will know prosperity through a stabilized economy.

It is my recommendation that you read the Optimist Creed, memorize it even, and let the optimist in you take over. Lead in optimism, and, then, get back to achievement.

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself-
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The Optimist Creed was drafted by Christian D. Larson, who lectured extensively about optimism during the time of the Great Depression.

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Persistence – the act of enduring despite… regardless of… in the face of… even with… even though… A leader is persistent. If there are setbacks, if there are obstacles, if the going gets tough, a leader is persistent. It’s the act of determination that stems from the depths of confidence and the strength that is derived form experience.

Leadership quote from Peter Drucker:
“It is easy to look good in a boom.”

Right now, in the US, we are faced with the prospect of a recession – technically defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative growth. So, right now, we need a greater emphasis on leadership in organizations. We need those business man and women, who through experience and knowledge, are able to drive our businesses through this economic period where only select businesses will “look good” while others are merely positioned to endure through this an economic downturn and still others will crumble under the weight of tough times.

It takes leadership to look good in a decline.

Creativity and Innovation

When economic times get tough, then it is time for leaders to rise to the challenge and find creative solutions to the problem. This is not as straight forward as cutting costs or cutting jobs. These, short-term solutions may cause more long-term problems. Sometimes the solution is a realignment, restructuring, or, some other, repositioning of the business.

No “One” solution

There is never a one-size-fits-all solution. Some corporations have a problem of too much money on hand, like Berkshire Hatheway, while others may have cut costs a bit too far and are now losing value, the Dell and Wal-Mart problems.

Leadership

It’s the job of leadership to determine the best path. It’s not as black-and-white as to say the correct path, for there may be more than one correct way to go. Rather, it’s an indeterminate measurement of “best.” It’s a matter of core competence in conjunction with the market’s evolution and countering competition. Sometimes the best answer is to R & D an entirely new product, modify the existing product, or add a service to complement the buyer’s experience. Whatever the “best” answer, the job is leadership.

Rise to the challenge and persist.

Leadership quote from Thomas Edison:
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

The leader does not give up.

For assistance, see Creative Problem Solving for Leadership.

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I am not very consistent in my opinion of Bill Clinton as a leader.  He certainly had and has influence which is the primary characteristic of a leader and the goal to leave things better than how he found them is a truly admirable goal for any leader; I would actually go so far to say that a leader is someone who leaves a group, organization, etc. better than how he found it.  I just take a couple of different positions with Clinton in the “how to” leave things better.

Here’s my quote for the day:
“A leader will leave a nation better than how he found it”

To apply the same standard to George W. Bush, you would have to admit a critical problem with the state of things as it is.  The US is not really better than it was when he took office.  I think time will be the best indicator, but right now the state of affairs is quite disappointing.

1. The military is spread thin.

With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US military is not in a position to respond or otherwise deal with a major or significant threat to the United States.  I don’t want to argue the position of whether we should be in Iraq or not or how the war on terror is being conducted, but I want to speak critically about the current state of the military to protect and defend the people of the United States.  If another major world power were to declare and conduct war against the United States, would the military be able to redirect attention from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, North Korea, and every other location that we have troops?

2. The economy is notably volatile.

The Fed cut a key interest rate by half a percent last week.  The steps were taken because the concern over the housing slump and credit crunch.  I was watching CNBC and heard one analyst report that the half a percent cut probably indicates the problem was worse then was previously thought as several analyst were anticipating merely a quarter of a percent cut.

The Presidency has very little direct impact on economic policy and certainly has very little impact on the banking practices that has lead to the credit crunch.  However, the leadership from the White House does have influence on the policies and practices of the US.  Right now, our government is spending billions of dollars on wars that are controversial at best.  At the same time, we are having difficulty raising the billions of dollars needed to rebuild the southern gulf after Hurricane Katrina.  There’s a problem of priorities and leadership.

3. The US does not have the needed clout with other nations to impact change.

After the UN general assembly, we should take a hard and critical look at the state of the US as a nation of influence.  We have many of our neighbors taking positions directly against us – Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia… While at the same time, we are unable to make a difference in more problematic areas – Darfur and Burma.

We are so split on areas of controversy – Iraq – that we are weak in the face of other problems.  We need leadership.  We need someone who will arouse faith and confidence.  We need someone who will make the tough decisions and will garner respect rather than spite.  We need someone who will unite rather than divide.  We need someone who will inspire rather than discourage.  We need a leader…

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