THE ENTERPRISE--COMPLEXITY AND ATTITUDE
BURIED IN THE CLUTTER OF COMPLEXITY? DROWNING IN COMPLEXITY? HELP IS ON ITS WAY.
Peggy Noonan was a speech writer for President Reagan, and she writes the absolute best thing in the Wall Street Journal--a column in the Weekend Journal. It is the first thing I go for. And no, I didn't steal the title of my new book from her column of 16 months ago....in fact I had not seen the column until this week. I guess it came during my vacation last year, when I suspended the WSJ...but am I sure glad I saw it now.
Why? Because Noonan's 2006 column not only reinforces the message of my book--there is too much unrecognized complexity in our "world"--in business and in government. It also explains more about why the political winds are blowing the way they are, and why the American people can be so critical of their legislators.
NO WONDER WE STRUGGLED
This year at our 11th Reunion Conference in Sept. we discussed many of the issues plaguing our country, our society, our government and thus all of us--as citizens. When we tried to condense our discussions into an agenda or a platform, it was incredibly difficult. There were so many, with so many nuances and slightly to wildly differing opinions on the right path to take. It felt a lot like what our government--or our corporations--must feel like when they are drowning in complexity. With arm outstretched, they should all be calling for help.
But help is on the way... I won't even attempt to claim that a simple book will solve our government's curse of complexity. But for those in business, here is a life-preserver in a stormy sea. THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS is now available for preordering. In the next week or two, I'll provide more info on how and where to preorder it, as I appeal to you to preorder MORE copies than you think you'll need--and hand them out liberally to your friend, cohorts, clients, customers, suppliers, and anyone else that needs help!
Here are some excerpts from Peggy's WSJ column that are so right, they bear repeating over a year later:
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The Complexity Crisis
We are asking too much of our politicians.
Thursday, July 13, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
I am thinking about the huge and crushing number of issues we force politicians to understand and make decisions on. These are issues of great variety, complexity, and even in some cases, many cases in a way, unknowability. All of us, as good citizens, feel that we must know something about them, study them, come to conclusions. But there are too many, and they are too complicated, or the information on them is contradictory, or incomplete.
For politicians it is the same but more so. They not only have to try to understand, complicated and demanding questions, they have to vote on them.
We are asking our politicians, our senators and congressmen, to make judgments, decisions and policy on: stem cell research, SDI, Nato composition, G-8 agreements, the history and state of play of judicial and legislative actions regarding press freedoms, the history of Sunni-Shiites tensions, Kurds, tax rates, federal spending, hurricane prediction and response, the building of a library annex in Missoula, the most recent thinking on when human life begins, including the thinking of the theologians of antiquity on when the soul enters the body, chemical weaponry, the Supreme Court, U.S.-North Korean relations, bioethics, cloning, public college curriculums, India-Pakistan relations, the enduring Muslim-Hindu conflict, the constitutional implications of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, Homeland security, Securities and Exchange Commission authority, energy policy, environmental policy, nuclear proliferation, global warming, the stability of Venezuela's Chavez regime and its implications for U.S. oil prices, the future of Cuba after Castro, progress in gender bias as suggested by comparisons of the number of girls who pursued college-track studies in American public high schools circa 1950 to those on a college-track today, outsourcing, immigration, the comparative efficacy of charter and magnet schools, land use, Kelo, health care, HMO's, what to do with victims of child abuse, the history of marriage, the nature and origin of homosexuality, V-chips, foreign competition in the making of computer chips, fat levels in potato chips, national policy on the humanities, U.N. reform, and privacy law.
And that was just this week. Just seven days in the modern political world. ... We are asking too much. Of ourselves and of the mere mortals who lead us. ...
Why are we asking so much of them? Because everything comes down to law and law comes down to politicians. Because everyone's watching, and trying to pin everyone else down--"But Congressman, the little girl lived in your district and all the local authorities had been alerted, don't you think your office should have done something about the daily abuse to which she was being subjected?"....
[my emphasis added to this next 3 paragraphs]
The Increasing Complexity of Everything is good for liberalism (government should be vital, large, demand and bestow much) and not conservatism (government should be smaller, less powerful, less demanding of the treasure and liberty of the citizenry). When everything is a big complicated morass, regular normal people, voters, constituents, become intellectually disheartened. They can also lose sight of core principles. A leftist who is Machiavellian in his impulses just might look at the lay of the land and think, Good, snow 'em under, they'll get confused. Keep hitting them with new issues and they'll start to make mistakes. They may stop us on gun control, but while they're busy fighting that we'll get Congress to mandate limits on CEO pay.
One feels as a voter not argued into agreement or persuaded into support but complicated into submission. How do politicians themselves feel about it? I would like to think many of them, and I know some of them, occasionally have a drink with friends at night and let out their surprise and dismay. "I'm just a guy who loved politics! I buy my suits at Moe's Big and Tall! I'm not a theologian, I'm not a scientist! Don't make me make these decisions! I'm stupider than you understand!" ...
What is the answer to all this? I don't know. But there must be one, even though it's probably complicated. I have only three thoughts. One: It is good to keep in mind, at such a time, that we must let as many questions devolve into the private sphere as possible. Not all can but many can, and on so many issues it's better to err on the side of individual freedom than the authority of the state. Two, in making big decisions do not lose simple common sense, which is common human sense, which is, for instance: If you start to clone humans it will have an ugly end. Three: Do not let go of your faith. Do not lose it. In the age in which too much is demanded of the slim wisdom of politicians, it is our only hope, and theirs.
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That, my friends and readers is why I wrote a book---THE COMPLEXITY CRISIS--intended to both publicize and expose rampant complexity and propose what to do about it. Otherwise complexity is debilitating, demoralizing and discouraging. And in our difficult modern world, that is not what we need. What we need is hope, optimism, ideas, solutions and most of all a positive mental attitude that we can, and will find the best solutions to the thorniest problems. No one of us will. not even a few of us will. But many of us, if we start reading, thinking and seeking solutions--will find them. I've seen it happen.
To keep this "attitude" in mind, I'd like to close with something a friend sent me today. It is NOT about me. (The choice of the name "John" is purely coincidental.) But it inspired and encouraged me, and I hope it will do the same for you. God knows we all need it.
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ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood.
I choose to be in a good mood."
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations.
You choose how people affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins.. Want to see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground , I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked
He continued, " ..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
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When you read the Economic Week in Review (if you persist to read it), you'll wonder how we can think things are so bad in the USA, when the results we are seeing in our own numbers are so good. Could it be our attitude about it all is wrong? Maybe, just maybe we should all be more like that other John.
Best, John
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Economic Week in Review: Trade deficit hits two-year low
The week's economic releases were decidedly positive. The top story was the continuing reduction of the U.S. trade deficit, which fell for the fourth straight month in September and reached its lowest level since May 2005. Meanwhile, nonfarm productivity grew at the fastest pace in more than four years and activity in the services sector improved in October.
The U.S. balance of trade—the gap between the total value of imports and exports—shrank to $56.5 billion in September from a downwardly revised $56.8 billion in August. This was in contrast to expectations of an increase to $58.2 billion and marked the fourth consecutive month of improvement. Exports increased $1.5 billion, while imports grew $1.2 billion. The U.S. dollar's ongoing weakness is playing a significant role in the deficit reduction, because it makes American goods and services more competitive abroad. Compared with a year ago, the trade deficit is down 12%.
Nonfarm productivity rose sharply in third quarter; labor costs fell
U.S. nonfarm productivity jumped at a 4.9% annualized rate in the third quarter. This gain—well above expectations of 3.3% increase—marked the fastest pace in over four years and was more than double the second quarter's 2.2% rate of growth. Meanwhile, unit labor costs, a key inflationary gauge, fell an annualized 0.2% in the third quarter, in sharp contrast to an anticipated gain of 0.8%. It was the first decline in labor costs since the summer of 2006. Compared with year-ago levels, productivity was up 2.4% and unit labor costs were 4.3% higher.
In contrast to last week's disappointing report on October activity in the manufacturing sector, the Institute for Supply Management's gauge of activity in the services sector surpassed analysts' expectations of a decrease by posting a modest increase in October, from 54.8 to 55.8. Forward-looking indicators, particularly new and backlogged orders , seemed to suggest that the improvement may continue in coming months. The employment component of the index weakened a bit. Despite the overall positive tenor of the report, sentiment among survey respondents remained mixed about the future strength of business conditions. Also, the index remained below its 12-month average.
September consumer credit increase smaller than expected
American consumers seemed less reluctant to use credit for their purchases in September, as outstanding consumer credit increased $3.7 billion, or an annualized 1.8%. Revolving debt, primarily credit card debt, grew at an annualized 4.4%. It was the smallest change since April. Continued slowness in auto sales led to a tame 0.3% annualized increase in nonrevolving debt, of which auto loans are the dominant component. On a year-over-year basis, total credit usage grew a modest 5.1%.
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