(Million Dollar Consulting® Performance)

We are bombarded with negative media news about the economy, unemployment, housing, deficits, and so on. These times, no doubt, are tough for a great many people and businesses. But the flip side of the equation is that the system hasn't collapsed, there are many instances of growth and success, and we need to have a balanced view of our times, not solely the negative one that sells papers and inflates ratings.

What's going well

As I write this, many industries and professions are hiring, such as health care, hotels and hospitality, food services, professional business services, retail, financial, and insurance. There is money around, waiting for opportunities to invest. At one point, General Electric stock was selling for $2 a share. While some major organizations, such as General Motors, were clearly on the way to Chapter 11, there is no way that GE's balance sheet and positioning call for bankruptcy.
Many people jumped in at $2. As of this writing, GE is selling for $12. It will probably be at two times that by year end.
There is a great concern about unemployment when it hit 9.5 percent. However, hard core unemployment is at about the 5 percent level. That is, it's virtually impossible to move unemployment below 5 percent, because that total includes those who choose not to work, can't work, and/or are chronically unemployed. So the actual increase in unemployment is about 4.5 percent. That's of little comfort to those who need work, but it is not a catastrophe.
All of this, of course, is in the midst of two wars, an unstable oil trade, a major attempt to shakeup health care and its financing, attempts to radically change the tax structure, huge stimulus packages, strong government intervention in the auto and financial industries, and global economic shifts.
Yet people are pretty much getting back to business and down to cases.

You act the way you think and think the way you act

A great deal of this recession is perceptual. Banks are afraid to lend money. People are afraid to spend money. Small business is afraid to expand.
That's because we're hearing doom and gloom at every turn. We have to examine the larger perspective. We've weathered quite a bad storm and have emerged. The system's fail-safe mechanisms were strained, but they did their job. The FDIC protected depositors where banks failed. Many people who lost homes had over-borrowed and over-committed, which is a personal accountability, not a systems failure.
Studies done by McGraw-Hill and others have indicated that businesses which invested in their growth during the recession of the early 1980s were able to surpass their competitors' growth by more than 20 percent one times improved. Now is the time to invest in our businesses, our futures, and ourselves.
We have to walk the talk and talk the walk. Our words inform out behaviors, and our behaviors dictate our language. Whether you believe you will succeed or believe you will fail, you're probably right.
We need to interact with other positive, constructive people. We are not victims unless we choose to be. A poverty mentality is not the prescription to escape poverty. A mentality of abundance is the way to help yourself and others. And you can't help others until you help yourself.

Choose a new route tomorrow

Find people who are confident and optimistic about the future. Engage people who are innovative and prudent risk takers, who see opportunity around the corner. Find those who are masters of their own fate, who are not dependent on what others tell them or warn them about.
We're not here to stick out toe in the water. We're here to make waves. When others pull back it's the best time for us to move forward. People are attracted to those who speak with confidence and conviction, and provide clear value.
What is your value? What is your conviction? What is your level of confidence? It's easy to stand out in a crowd these days. You just have to ensure that you look good and sound good while you're standing there.
Perception is reality. What's yours?

© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D. is the author of 32 books appearing in 9 languages. He runs his famous Million Dollar Consulting® Colleges all over the world, and has consulted with over 500 organizations, such as the Federal Reserve, Mercedes-Benz, Hewlett-Packard, and J.P. Morgan Chase. He serves on a half-dozen boards, and is the only non-journalist to have ever received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Press Institute.. His newest book is The Talent Advantage (with Nancy MacKay).You can reach him at Alan@summitconsulting.com or his blog, http://www.contrarianconsulting.com.