As I cleaned and read this weekend, CNN rambled on about America’s debt debacle, the stock market tumble and the impending end of the world as we know it. I couldn’t help but think about what this will mean to my business, to my family, and my employees and their families? I sincerely believe it will make us stronger. Over the past year, I have watched my team and my clients learn to work in new ways. While the governments struggled to deal with the new economies (they are always the slowest to learn and change), my clients and my employees have been studying new ways to innovate, create, deal with the challenges. I have yet to see any of us roll over and call it quits. There is none of the weeping and gnashing of teeth for prolonged periods that the government officials seem to have perfected.
Business off in a North American market? We shift our focus to South America and Asia. No money for a branding campaign but desperate need to do one to keep a product from being commoditized? Our team mobilized, drawing expertise from a previous generation and help from new Google tools.
This is not the time to sit, worry and complain. Sure we had to tighten our belts and learn to do more with even less. Thank God for employees and clients who reflect on concerns and then dig deep into innovation and learning to solve the challenges. We are looking forward to hearing more about the real news of our clients’ world: an IPO in Europe; heavy new sales in debt-ridden Spain and Italy; new Asian plants built and brought on-stream; full product pipelines and backlogs of orders; and innovative healthcare solutions for government and education. And HMA will be there to help tell the stories. All is not lost.
