Change is coming and it may be more than you imagined

LAS VEGAS, NV  October 9, 2008

(This article is about politics, the economy and how it’ll all impact your business.)

Both candidates for the Presidency are touting their administration will be the one to lead the charge and help create change.  But big change is happening even before the election -maybe not the change they had in mind – but its here, nonetheless. 

I look at what’s going on in the economy in the US and worldwide as a purge or a cleanse, if you will.  Have you ever done a detox and given up sugar or gone on a juice fast for a few days and done things to totally eliminate your body of all the harm you’ve done to it with sugar, junk food, alcohol and generally crap?  That’s how I’m looking at this massive shifting as world financial systems are trying to “eliminate”  (sorry about that – I couldn’t help myself! *wink*) the bad mortgages and bad investment deals, and, the bad money that’s been propping up our economy for the last 7-8 years.

Here are my thoughts as a person who’s watched trends and directions when it comes to culture and where people are going and how they’re thinking for the last 15 years.   That sorta plays right back into marketing.  My strong suit, remember?

McCain comes from a VERY long line of military officers going way back.  Testosterone heavy.  Who can tough out the other guy longer?  Even though in his soft, reassuring voice he says, “I hate war” and “our soldiers are our greatest treasure” war seems to be a kneejerk reaction for him because it’s like its almost hard-wired into his DNA.   (He’s also voted against legislation to support our troops and veterans 23 times – but I won’t linger there.) 

Yet we live in a world where more and more countries have nuclear power or are trying to figure out how to get the technology.  They have the money to buy it - its not a pipe dream.   Does that make you a little nervous?  This means the role of diplomacy between nations is more important than ever.  Playing Mexican standoff gets exactly the opposite reaction.

So maybe Obama spoke too fast in that debate last winter when he said he would talk to leaders of some rogue nations without pre-conditions.  I think he realizes now it was a mistake.  But I like that openness of saying, “Let’s try something new.”  Clearly the silent treatment doesn’t work in business, it doesn’t work in our personal relationships and it doesn’t work very well in foreign affairs either.   

The fact that other countries have any nukes means the playing field is more level now.    After all, the original idea of nuclear weapons when they were developed around World War II was to have a power so strong it would prevent war.  And the last eight years of the Bush administration have shown the more the US refuses to talk with nations like Iran and North Korea, the more those nations’ leaders have developed more weapons.

Obama’s a little more liberal than I am.  I’m more of an Independent.  But I figure that’s why we have checks and balances in the House and Senate.  The American President can’t (at least according to the way our system is supposed to work) do anything without them anyway. So those two bodies will be able to rein in some of that well-intentioned liberalism that’s a bit over the top.

I feel from a very deep place Obama’s the right person at this time for our country. I’ve watched all the debates, I’ve read everything on his site, I’ve read the conspiracy theories and the hate-mongering.  I’ve been following the campaign like a frikkin’ soap opera since the primaries in Iowa.  Truth is there’s hyperbole on both sides.  We’re entering an era of mass change. Obama nailed it when he coined his “Change” slogans over a year ago. I also believe the changes are much bigger and more far ranging than Obama and an Obama White House.  What’s happening in the world financial markets and this financial detox is just the tip of the iceberg.  He’s been prescient and is riding the wave which I believe may land him at the front door of the Oval Office.  We’ll see.

Wednesday night I was watching CNN World and the tumbling of financial markets in London, Paris, Moscow, Bombay, Dubai, Bombay, Sydney, Tokyo and other major exchanges.  Absolutely stunning.  The New York Stock Exchange dropped 678 points just today in reaction to the global markets and some down news from General Motors. 

As for McCain, I can’t even fathom someone who doesn’t understand the Internet and what “that Google thing” is.  Voting for him to “lead” the US makes my teeth itch.  Let’s face it – lives and livelihoods around the world have been changed  by the Internet.  We are more globally connected than ever.  My marketing mentoring clients have come to me from India, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Canada, France, Great Britain and other countries.  My book, a business bestseller has been sold around the world - and it’s all because of the Internet.

It was said when the bailout (oh, okay, “rescue plan”) was signed by President Bush - that should’ve made a lot of things simmer down – and money would start flowing again.  The money is starting to flow into the system – but at the moment no one trusts anyone else (I heard this from an economist on NPR today).   Banks are refusing to lend to other banks.  He said money is coming in but everyone is in “hoard” mentality – serious lack and fear thinking.  They’re afraid to make a move because there’s been a culture of lying, cheating, dishonesty and miscommunication about these financial instruments around the world – it’s what’s slowing everything down.

Here’s a little factoid:  do you know where the world “wealth” comes from?  It’s an ancient Welsh word that originates from “weal” referring to the old water wheels and it meant “to be in the flow.”  With banks having a lack, hoarding mentality they are stopping the flow of wealth – to their banks and their customers.

So – lying, greedy people who profited from lousy mortgages and bundled-up investments loaded with lousy mortgages are causing the world economy as we know it to screech to a halt.  Almost.  Then it will gradually, lurchingly (is that a word? *wink*) ramp up again.  Just like a jet gathering momentum it takes a lot to get it off the ground. All that propulsion. Action and reaction as my dad – a brilliant engineer told me. Once it’s off the ground it’s easier to keep it aloft – but then the pilots at the helm have to make sure they don’t steer it into the side of a mountain.

But let not your heart be troubled.  Good times are on the way again.  Here’s the good news for your business.  The people who stay out of fear and lack thinking, the people who instead embody love, trust and openness will prosper in the era in which we are entering.  They’ll prosper greatly.  My observation is McCain is stuck in fear and lack thinking as he grasps desperately trying to get his brief lead after the GOP convention back.  Obama, even when he was the underdog over a year ago and Hillary Clinton was considered the heir apparent to the White House keeps coming from a place of openness, expansion and embracing new ideas.  Even if I don’t agree with all of ‘em. 

A couple weeks ago – many of us were waiting with baited breath to see what Treasure Secretary Paulson would say next and what the House of Reps would do next.  I said to my husband as this change is occuring people need to learn to be a lot nicer to each other.  That’s not just a cry to all hold hands and sing, “Kumbaya.”  This crisis is proof when we don’t have love, trust and opennes – our economy, our businesses crater.  We need to genuinely be more kind and less Machievellian.   That’s the key.  Your products, policies, marketing and everything about your business need to emanate genuine kindness and concern.

The absolute last gasps of “I’m better than you” attitudes and looking down your nose at others has come.  The last remnants of racism?  Gotta go.  The bits of leftover sexism and Knuckle-dragging Neanderthals?  On the way out.  Judging people negatively based on your bank account or the car you drive?  Gotta go. 

People who live with an endarkened consciousness will be exposed and moved out, or, our planet is at risk.  Your business is at risk.  The, “it’s all about me and the heck with everyone else” way of business strategy just doesn’t work anymore.  We really are a global community.

For me that means a vote for fear or lack is impossible. The person who cares for the least of our brothers (and sisters) gets my vote because that’s the direction the world is going as these massive changes are cresting over us as  waves on the Barrier Reef.

Gee, maybe love really DOES make the world go ’round.

All the best,

Denise Michaels
Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

PS: Visit me online at http://www.MentoringwithDenise.com or, get a copy of my myth-shattering book (which is about marketing for women – not politics or the economy) at http://www.tfmbook.com