Unconventional Wisdom
It’s easy to panic when the economy gets messy. It harder to to put things into perspective and take a quick look at the few downturns of the past 20 years. 1987 sucked. So did 1998 and 2002. Today, the bailout was dismissed and subsequently didn’t happen. What do you know? We had our worst one day decline since the crash of 1987. What do you expect? Politics + markets = chaos.
Success or failure. Bailout or no bailout. Creation or destruction. When things get cloudy with uncertainty (cloudy would currently be an understatement; I’d say we are polluted with uncertainty) it’s important to stick to principles. I’m constantly being reminded that it is a miserable time to be a job applicant. Although this may be true, there is going to be major opportunity in the next five to ten years.
Look at where we are now compared to the above monumental dates. It may be easy for me to say this because the downfalls did not directly hit my personal wealth, but still, we’ve been extremely pro-active in advancing our financial systems post-disaster(s).
As world economies slow down, our brains don’t stop thinking about how to fix them. As Wall Street halts and deleverages, the technologists will continue to engineer ways to make our lives easier (except maybe with less funding). It seems like the world is stopping, but in reality, just a portion of it is changing (and losing money).
It all comes down to principle. The economic environment will always be changing, but it’s important to stick with what works time and time again. It’s not a magic formula, but it’s a way of thinking. After hearing an intelligent, experienced and wise California start-up CEO speak about his principles of business, he informed us that it is even more crucial to stick to principle in tough times. Success isn’t always about crossing the finish line first as it is getting over the hurdles.
So how do you make it work? You innovate. You experiment. You implement. Rinse and repeat.
I’ve got almost an entire school year to figure out if I’ll be driving my own route to success, or riding passenger with someone else driving. Either way, those three words have really stuck with me. Whether solving a financial crisis or pitching a business plan, keeping these principles handy will keep you focused.
