Don’t Look Now, But….
I know it’s unfashionable to report good news, but someone has to do it.
The stock market is hovering around being in the black for 2009.
Government indicators are cautiously positive on trends in unemployment, housing sales, and trade. That is, things aren’t as bad as feared, or are slowing their slide, or are actually stabilizing.
Of course some things never change. Insurer AIG, after a mega-massive government bailout, is now stonewalling over paying property and medical claims to the passengers on the US Airways flight that ditched in the Hudson River. You just can’t make that stuff up. And banks, themselves the recipients of massive tax payer funding (some of which are proudly claiming they are starting to repay the loans) are still not providing mortgage loans and consumer credit.
Nonetheless, as I’ve been suggesting, the inevitable rebound will be sooner, not later, and economists in the Wall Street Journal this morning are starting to talk about early 2010 as the time of improvement.
Last night the coauthors on my newest book, “The Power of Strategic Commitment” (Amacom), Gershon Mader and Josh Leibner, threw a huge launch party at The Campbell Apartments in Grand Central Station. They invited clients, friends, and press, and taped a great deal of the proceedings. They understand that you invest in marketing and promotion, and that you don’t grow through cutting. Their clients clearly understand that, as well. We all had a great time.
The guy who coauthored my very first book, “The Innovation Formula,” is Mike Robert. He used to say to anyone who would listen, “If you had a dollar left, would you feed your family for a day, or invest it to market yourself so that you could feed your family forever?”
What investment are you making in optimism, courage, growth, and most of all, yourself? Not just for now, but forever?
© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.
