How to make delusional optimism work for your business in the new year
Congratulations to you and your business if you are in a position to grow your business and bring in a new employee for the new year. Thank you for your decision to take the risk to spend your hard-earned money to provide someone else with an opportunity to get to work. While your bottom line goal may be to help your own small business or team remain or become more successful, provide better service to your customers or clients, or ease the workload of your existing staff, the decision to hire during the final weeks of the year, looking towards the uncertainty of the next, does take guts and a little year-end optimism. If you have made this decision wisely and selected the right candidate, your decision will not only benefit your and your team but also the person you hire, their family and even your wider community.
Combating Challenges
In Gallup Chair and CEO Jim Cliftons 2011 book The Coming Jobs War, he discusses many things that should raise alarm bells and be of concern to leaders in business, governments and individuals around the globe. While I do not agree with everything he writes, he does share many good points including two key ideas regarding how the U.S., historically a key leader in global stability and economic growth, can combat the challenges ahead. Two ideas are particularly relevant for all business leaders today:
1. Individual community leadersnot necessarily elected or proclaimed community leaders, but generally business owners, small, medium and large and in particular entrepreneurs must lead the day to stability and growth. These are not necessarily the inventor-innovators, but more importantly the get the job done doers. This is not a grass roots, boot strapping, work-hard edict, it is a realistic view that change is often taken on the ground, by leaders who can also quickly implement their ideas and visions and not from the collective top down.
2. The necessity for an infusion of optimismnot delusional optimism but well considered and then loudly proclaimed optimism. The impact and infectious nature of optimism is not something to be dismissed. Optimism is also something you fake until you make if you understand the best type of optimism and how use it to push ahead.
