subject: Panic, Prudence and Power [print this page] Panic, Prudence and Power Panic, Prudence and Power
They are at it again. The fear mongers are promoting the current economic situation as so dire. Over and over they repeat the bad news and worse, delete any hint of the good news. If one didn't know any better you would think that they want the recession to worsen.
The reality is that traditional media are desperate. They are fighting for their economic lives. Bankruptcies and closings are the order of the day for the Fourth Estate. Paradoxically, their actions are worsening the economy and pushing potential and existing advertisers that could have used their media for marketing away. They are accelerating their own demise. Prices have not decreased in many media (specifically newspapers) even though readership, listenership and viewership are down. Their actions could be considered sad were it not for the responsibility they must share for dumping all over the American public. The message they spread is fear.
Fear has a unique capacity to spread much like a virus imperceptibly at first. Then unmistakably, fear begins to grip the psyches of John Q Public. It spreads much like an epidemic except there is no vaccine or valid countermeasure. Fear begats fear.
It can take only a short time to induce fear it takes far longer to for the average person to see the good side of life.
When the average American is fearful, he does what anyone would. He stops moving. He stops planning for the future. He stops spending money. Fear can and will kill economic good times. Fear will inhibit the return to "normal."
Right now the media are the purveyors of fearful thinking. They are sowing the seeds of their own demise. Their retort to the objections of fear inducing news 24/7 is that news that is good and positive doesn't interest their audience.
That is a partial true statement. But don't be seduced by it. The key word is partial.
The disregard for balancing the good with the bad is apparent by the dearth of positive thought emanating from these organizations. People inherently know that this is not a reflection of real life. They are too smart for that. What has happened is that the people no longer trust the news. They want it to be reported straight. It is not. The views of editors and reporters who work for these news organizations come through in the words of their stories. It was once only covertly modified. Now they overtly espouse their agendas as if that is their job. It has never been their job to decide. Their job is to report the facts.
Can you say you trust them? I do not. I see how they twist and turn the news to fit their agendas. Trust is their currency. It has become counterfeit by their own choosing. When trust in the Fourth Estate is lost, their charge as reporters of information necessary to keep government and companies honest is lost. They have become the masters of spin they have so ridiculed all these years. Politicians are forgiven the spin. The media shouldn't be.
We will see the demise of newspapers, television networks and other media as we now know them. I use to lament this. I now say it is about time.
You will see the news organizations that have selected a side fall first. Then others will follow along. Some will morph into something new and survive. Others will try to use the old formulas simply because they know nothing else. It may well be pretty ugly.
For now, they continue to say and spray the bad news in a never ending prattle. This does affect the people where you live, work and play.
In a television interview of Warren Buffet on CNBC that lasted over three hours, he spoke of the country having being through other difficult times, starting all the way back to the colonies and Revolutionary War days. He noted that through our country's history that there were really only 15 really bad years out of the 230 plus years of this country. His message was of hope and optimism. How do you think the news organization spun it? That's right; they yanked information out of context to create a negative headline: "Warren Buffett Says The Economy Fell off a Cliff."
Expect more of the same out of these organizations. They will promote the negative above all else.
This onslaught may well create a panic among the populace.
You have three choices.
1. Get caught up in it and join the recession/depression crowd.
2. Start speaking your mind and get active to make a change.
3. Maintain a cooler head and rise above the fray.
It is prudent to prepare for more news idiocy. You should prepare for a further decline. It may never occur, but it is prudent to prepare as if it will. Increase your flexibility and responsiveness to change. Get your own financial house in order.
You will need to be the harbinger of good tidings whenever you can be; if for no other reason than to shore up the faith of your staff and your patients. The speed with which the economy will improve is related to the industriousness of the entrepreneur and small business person. That is us.
Power
Lastly, might it be the best time to increase your own stability, prosperity, growth and success when many others are fearful, confused and blind to the possibilities? Opportunity comes during times of crisis. Those that can dispassionately see the future and move forward, while others figuratively cower in the corner, are those that leap ahead of their competition. This is a great time to install better controls and measures in your practice, to shore up your organizational strength, to insist on performance, replace non-performers and dysfunctional staff, and to market wisely using our synergistic systems to yield better results than ever.
It is easy to buy in to the bad news. It takes someone special to rise above it.
