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Reasons to be cheerful… part 1

We have been subjected to a diet of doom and gloom for nearly a year now as one after another major corporate has gone to the wall.  People have lost jobs, homes and lives.  I hear from colleagues that they are worried; and certainly the press constantly reinforces this sense of doom.

Personally, I feel very positive.  I think that we have begun to create an environment where scared cows can be slaughtered, and accepted thinking challenged.  There have been too many things accepted for far too long because “Things have always been done that way…”  and when we are hitting targets and making profits everyone supports the status quo.

If you are going to redecorate a room, you have to first stop using it, then clear it out, strip off all the old paper, paint etc and then make good.  Only then are you ready to consider redecoration.  It seems to get worse and worse and before you start the final phase, it is easy to feel a bit depressed and wonder why you ever started.

Now is a time to be brave, imaginative and creative.  You need to remember that you should build for the long term and avoid short cuts, especially when they compromise important values.  Look after your people, (by which I mean your staff, your customers and your suppliers,) avoid waste, and communicate, communicate …. communicate! 

I’d be very interested to gather together some of your examples of reasons to be cheerful.

“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find joy in overcoming obstacles.”    Helen Keller

“A man can believe a considerable deal of rubbish, and yet go about his daily work in a rational and cheerful manner”    George Norman Douglas

 

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at 09:50 and is filed under Business Change, Innovation, Leadership, Personal Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Reasons to be cheerful… part 1”

  1. Louis Sequeria says:
    18 April , 2009 at 10:06

    Richard,

    It is good too note that the environmental changes that will encourage change has cheered you up, as it does me.
    It is for this very reason, that I get concerned when I read about “restoring” the economy and similar bits of news.
    We do not need to restore the economy and our way of living to the “way we always did it”.
    We need to “change” discarding all that led us down this way. All it requires, is to have the courage to accept that,
    a lot of things we did before was not sustainable and stop blaming someone else for the “mess”.

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    18 April , 2009 at 10:08

    The voice of wisdom as ever Louis… I completely agree

  3. Graham says:
    18 April , 2009 at 10:57

    I think that the change is now here and it is a paradigm change. Those who realise this will prosper. Examples are the huge advances in electric cars in the last year since the spike in the oil prices. Everyone thinking about turning out lights and unplugging stuff as their fuel bills went up.
    In Spain, where I am, during the last storms over 30% of the country’s energy was produced from wind. Renewables are on their way.

  4. Sam Deeks says:
    18 April , 2009 at 11:14

    I’m a cow and I’m scared 🙂

  5. Sam Deeks says:
    18 April , 2009 at 11:18

    Joking aside, I’m cheerful because I’m learning to be ‘in the now’ as Eckhart Tolle calls it. Nothing’s wrong there and everything’s possible.

  6. richardderwentcooke says:
    18 April , 2009 at 15:21

    Graham,
    Thanks for your thoughts; I agree that we are in need of, and perhaps more importantly, ripe for a new paradigm. What we need is leaders with cojones to take us there.

  7. richardderwentcooke says:
    18 April , 2009 at 15:22

    Sam,
    Thanks for this. I agree that if we were able to stay ‘in the now’ we would indeed be making areal shift… Well Done!

  8. richardderwentcooke says:
    18 April , 2009 at 15:24

    For me, I have had two very interesting meetings in the last two days with new acquaintences loooking at new ways of working together in very intersting areas. Staying open to Change is absolutely essential!

  9. Mehmet_y says:
    18 April , 2009 at 17:17

    I got my daily honey from your posting:-

    “Now is a time to be brave, imaginative and creative. You need to remember that you should build for the long term and avoid short cuts, especially when they compromise important values. Look after your people, (by which I mean your staff, your customers and your suppliers,) avoid waste, and communicate, communicate …. communicate!”

    I believe you display these characteristics well: “Brave, imaginative and creative”

    Regards,
    Mehmet

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