What About this Downturn?

I have been reading Geoff Colvin's new book, The Upside of the Downturn. It really is a good read. In some ways, I believe it is a timely and maybe even an important read. It provides both perspective and insight that has been valuable for me and I believe it will be valuable for most people.

The most significant insight I quickly gained in reading Colvin's little book was this. The "downturn" we are experiencing is simply a chapter in a much longer story. This recession isn't a story in itself. It is simply a part of a story. I think that is really important. Here is why.

If we are not careful, we will pay it too much respect. While it is certainly dramatic and it is clearly consequential. It is not our whole story. We simply cannot afford to hang our heads as though we are now people who have been victimized and changed by forces outside of our control. We are not without power to respond. We must accept the challenge as we always have and respond.

Secondly, we need some context. We are part of a world community. As a country, we may have paid lip service to this membership over the years and now it is coming home to rest. Colvin does a great job of reminding us of some much needed historical reference. Our relationship to the economic conditions of the world community is a matter of delicate balance and responsibility. We may have occupied a powerful leadership role for a number of years but it hasn't always been that way and it is in the process of change as we speak. How we relate to the world in the future will be the product of diplomacy, relationship and creativity.

Finally, we need to learn from what we have experienced. If we don't fully understand what happened when all of the capital of the world came our way with confidence in our consumer power then we won't grasp how greed and arrogance destroyed the very fiber of our free enterprise system. If we ever hope to restore even a semblance of it in the future, then we have to take sage advice and learn from our history.

So, take some time and get some much needed perspective. There really is "upside to this downturn" as Colvin suggests. It only takes response. Do well my friends.