Herman School of Business
Who would have Thunk it!
A Black Man could be the President in the coming months, or a Woman could be a heartbeat away from that office. The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to the World Series. Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers have disappeared. The stock market has fallen thirty percent in less than ten months. These are surprising things that no one would have predicted one year ago.
That gives me hope. Enormous hope, for the future.
The Yankees didn’t make the playoffs but their manager from last year could be in the World Series. Huh? Yes just eleven months ago Joe Torre was a failure in New York, by Yankee management standards…after getting his team to the playoffs year after year…Torre was rewarded with a suggested pay cut and soon was the ex-manager of the Yankees. Out of work and humiliated publicly poor old Joe didn’t sit around feeling sorry. The team he hated growing up as a child…the Dodgers…came along and offered him a chance to “Go West Young Man” and manage that team for 2008. One year ago at this time Torre was in a Yankee uniform fighting for a chance to play in that World Series so surely he could not have ever guessed this year he would have his team fighting to get into the Series…as a Dodger manager.
What does all this mean to me and you?
It means that life is full of unexpected things and many of those unexpected things are marvelous and wonderful. Those screaming for Hillary to be the candidate touted that it was time for a woman to lead. The unexpected came along in Barack Obama and now we may have a minority win the election. Surprising us on the other side a Republican candidate picked a woman to be the Vice President if he wins…so two changes have come along that no one predicted.
Young people one year ago were shut out of the housing market. Prices were high on even small houses and their hope of the American Dream was getting out of reach. This year with a good job and a reasonable down payment home ownership will return as a possibility because prices are going back to reality. There will be good consequences to our bad acts of the recent past.
Unexpected brings fear because we are unfamiliar with what will happen. In time you embrace the surprise…Torre looks good in Dodger Blue…and make it work for you.
When bad things happen, and fear shuts down your ambition, you must look to the future expecting the unexpected surprise that could turn your life around. I saw a friend yesterday who told me of her shattered marriage and the financial struggles now that her husband has moved out. Despite the hardships of the immediate future she recognizes the positive side of not living with a cheat and a liar for the rest of her life. She sees that the past was giving her warning signs she ignored…but now that she MUST face the reality…she can start working on her positive future. And she is practical enough to realize it could get worse before it turns better, but so what, it will turn better!
If you are about to get fired, lose your home, or realize the past spending habits have forced you to lose it all and start over recognize one thing…now you can work on a positive future instead of ignoring reality and living in a negative past.
I can’t wait to see the next unexpected surprise…I just know it will be a good one!
- Posted: 15 October 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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