"Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance." -Brian Tracy
Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars now flow to the banks that need bailouts. Not only does this put a strain on an already stressed economy, but banks are more reluctant to loan out money, interest rates are going up, and jobs are at stake. I am sure that you are feeling it, since it has hit everyone from the top to the bottom. It seems that we are stuck in a Catch-22, where no decision looks like a good one.
Blame for the bank crisis has been thrown around in media like ball in a childrens' game of Hot Potato. Rather than look at who got us into this mess, I prefer to look at how something of this magnitude has happened, and how to avoid something like that from happening in our own lives. After all, John Blumberg, author of Good to the Core: Building Value with Values said, "We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen."
That quote really does describe how we tend to get off center from our goals and values. No one wakes up saying, "I think I will do my part to cause my bank to fail." Instead, small decisions every day make the difference between staying the course and drifting away. I can think of someone who stayed the course.
Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers, led a team of true champions. In his first year, the team went from 1-10-1 in 1958 to 7-5 in 1959, and for the next eight years they won five NFL championships and Super Bowls I and II. His winning philosophy was simple, summarized in a short speech he gave called "What it Takes to be Number One". He chose to end his speech with, "The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rule-but to win." Lombardi did not believe in hidden meanings, dealing in the shadows, or backstabbing. He did believe that the ends justified the means, values and morality stood together, and that no self interest is worth your reputation. To Lombardi, winning and fairness were not mutually exclusive, but depended on one another for a victory to be a true victory.
I also remember the example of Tylenol. In 1982, the company ran into a crisis. An unknown suspect slipped a lethal dose of cyanide into a few bottles, killing seven people. Tylenol made a landmark decision, pulling every bottle from every shelf in America. The loss exceeded $100 million. Could Tylenol have done less than what they did? Certainly so, but the mission that drove the company compelled the leaders to make a hard decision. The result was Tylenol regained credibility and became the top drug company in America. The Chinese word for "crisis" has two parts: "danger" and "opportunity". If you are driven by values, a crisis can turn into opportunity.
So, how have you turned crisis into opportunity? Share your story, leave a comment!