It hit me as I was struggling with the incomprehensible instructions for a federal tax return. The wonderful folks who brought me these %$# tax forms are the same folks – bureaucrats and politicians – who think they can engineer the economic recovery! My glass-half-empty side and my gut-feel says what’s going on in Washington, like most of what comes out of that capitol, will be expensive, ineffective and will carry unintended consequences. (Speaking of unintended consequences, H&R Block grossed $4.4 billion last year. What if taxes were simplified and the money and the countless hours wasted preparing tax returns were channeled into some value-added endeavor?)
The banks have bad assets – largely the result of unintended consequences of federal policy. We’ll always need banks, so somehow they’ll regenerate, likely in a more expensive and less useful form because of the “bailout.”
Some industries may be beyond help. Newspapers, sadly, are going away, at least in their present form. The airlines and travel industry are in the dumps. They don’t need government money but it would help if government leaders didn’t characterize all corporate travel as extravagant luxury. Post-election presidential rhetoric and tax hocus-pocus hasn’t increased consumer confidence. Eventually consumers will need to see something “real” before they react with their spending.
I’m a normally optimistic guy who’s very discouraged. But the glass-half-full side is glad to be a small business manager. We’re able to adapt. That’s what we do all along: figure out how to create products and services of value that people will pay for. There are still opportunities, though we may approach them differently because our customers are in different circumstances.
Small business managers know that we have to make things happen, not wait for someone else to do it. Not wait for the government to make things happen. We make things happen. (Yes, on a small basis that will feed our family and the families of a few employees.)
The good news is that we’re not the target, yet, of government expansion. People aren’t being told that we’re evil. I don’t think everyone hates us (though we better not appear to be “rich”). Washington hasn’t yet put limits on our compensation nor our modes of travel. We have not become dependent on government for our existence. We often fly below the radar of complex regulations and protection mechanisms because of the fundamental simplicity with which we succeed. We can probably handle a few more minor obstacles.
It’s encouraging that Madison was just named the second best place in the U.S. to get a job. Surveys show that over half of all workers worry about being laid off and 75% know someone who’s lost a job. Employees need something to be encouraged about.
As small business managers, we’re personally closer to our employees, making it tougher to simply lay people off to “make the numbers”. We don’t have the same pressure as publicly held entities to make such short-sighted decisions. A recent QTI Consulting Group seminar for CEOs noted that human capital is our “largest and most important expenditure.” It gave advice for keeping those human assets by not panicking. Those include reduced-time arrangements, job-sharing, special leave, hiring freezes, voluntary layoffs and variable pay-for-performance arrangements. Employees are likely to cooperate and meet employers halfway in such times.
The QTI seminar advised: “Worst of times at the macro level present opportunities at the company level.” I’m afraid that’s equipped to survive in this economy”: Bill’s glass-half-full opinion.
