Don't worry, be happy
Why is it that while most are feeling rather grumpy about the current economic crisis, political leaders throughout the world ranging from Barak Obama to Silvio Berlusconi engage in happy talk whenever they find a microphone and a TV camera in front of...
Why is it that while most are feeling rather grumpy about the current economic crisis, political leaders throughout the world ranging from Barak Obama to Silvio Berlusconi engage in happy talk whenever they find a microphone and a TV camera in front of them? Business leaders seem to be resorting to the same morale building tactics in their quest to create a "feel good factor". Do they know something that the rest of us do not?
The answer, of course, is that they are just trying to manage the mood of increasingly despondent people who are slowly realising that the current depression will change the quality of their lives for ever. It is a fact that both optimism and pessimism are highly contagious, especially when such attitudes are adopted by leaders.
Managing emotions has gained in importance in business and political leaders' agendas in the last decade. "Emotional intelligence" is a highly sought after characteristic of the management profession. We all love to hear our leaders tell us that the present problems will soon be over and that we will soon be enjoying again the years of abundance that characterised the last decade of the last century.
Those who heard Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressing the party faithful in the first congress of the newly formed political party Il Popolo della Liberta, must have noticed this politicians ability to connect with people. Like a modern times Moses he promised his adoring supporters that he will soon lead them out of wilderness that is the present global crisis, and that they will soon be basking in economic prosperity.
Where does honesty feature in all this? The answer is: hardly anywhere. I am not disputing the importance of boosting the morale of those affected by events that are beyond their control. Languishing in self-pity is soul destroying and anything that has the effect of shaking people out of this destructive attitude is certainly worth promoting.
But prescribing the pain killers of happy talk is no substitute to an honest realisation that problems need to be faced and that resolving problems comes with a political cost. We often label people as "optimists", or "pessimists" or "realists". I do not like labels because they have a tendency to stick. Pragmatism demands that we adopt different attitudes in different and changing circumstances. This in turn gives us the right motivation to move ahead and do what it takes to win the challenges ahead of us.
Some years ago I travelled to Mo I Rana, a remote city very near the artic circle in Norway. I visited a steelworks that five years earlier had over 2,000 workers but was totally unprofitable and survived only through state aid. At one stage the Norwegian Prime Minister told Parliament that his government would no longer support this enterprise but would assist the workers to help themselves in finding alterative work after retraining.
The steelworks eventually reduced its workforce to just 120 workers, mainly engaged in guiding the robotics that controlled steel production. The redundant workers were retrained as male nurses, bookkeepers, postal workers, and a myriad of other skilled tradesmen for whom there was latent demand in the Norwegian economy. Today this region encourages migration from the Baltic States because Norway simply does not have enough local workers.
What impressed me most was the stoic attitude of a trade union leader who described the psychological stages he went through when this life shattering experience confronted him and his colleagues.
He described what happened very clinically: "Initially we were shocked. We never believed that this could happen to us. We spent a whole month under shock, hardly speaking even to our dear ones at home. We then realised that we had better make the best of the opportunities that the government was providing us with and take control of our own destiny. We rolled up our sleeves and started to find ways of how to reinvent ourselves."
No doubt, our political and business leader will continue to urge us not to worry and be happy. If this helps lift our grumpiness and angst, then so be it. But let us never believe that things will change without the need of hard work to shake off the shackles that are slowly but surely making us uncompetitive. In the present circumstances we need to adopt energy building practices, rather than resort to pain killers that will dull temporarily the bitter effect of the current world recession.
The answer, of course, is that they are just trying to manage the mood of increasingly despondent people who are slowly realising that the current depression will change the quality of their lives for ever. It is a fact that both optimism and pessimism are highly contagious, especially when such attitudes are adopted by leaders.
Managing emotions has gained in importance in business and political leaders' agendas in the last decade. "Emotional intelligence" is a highly sought after characteristic of the management profession. We all love to hear our leaders tell us that the present problems will soon be over and that we will soon be enjoying again the years of abundance that characterised the last decade of the last century.
Those who heard Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressing the party faithful in the first congress of the newly formed political party Il Popolo della Liberta, must have noticed this politicians ability to connect with people. Like a modern times Moses he promised his adoring supporters that he will soon lead them out of wilderness that is the present global crisis, and that they will soon be basking in economic prosperity.
Where does honesty feature in all this? The answer is: hardly anywhere. I am not disputing the importance of boosting the morale of those affected by events that are beyond their control. Languishing in self-pity is soul destroying and anything that has the effect of shaking people out of this destructive attitude is certainly worth promoting.
But prescribing the pain killers of happy talk is no substitute to an honest realisation that problems need to be faced and that resolving problems comes with a political cost. We often label people as "optimists", or "pessimists" or "realists". I do not like labels because they have a tendency to stick. Pragmatism demands that we adopt different attitudes in different and changing circumstances. This in turn gives us the right motivation to move ahead and do what it takes to win the challenges ahead of us.
Some years ago I travelled to Mo I Rana, a remote city very near the artic circle in Norway. I visited a steelworks that five years earlier had over 2,000 workers but was totally unprofitable and survived only through state aid. At one stage the Norwegian Prime Minister told Parliament that his government would no longer support this enterprise but would assist the workers to help themselves in finding alterative work after retraining.
The steelworks eventually reduced its workforce to just 120 workers, mainly engaged in guiding the robotics that controlled steel production. The redundant workers were retrained as male nurses, bookkeepers, postal workers, and a myriad of other skilled tradesmen for whom there was latent demand in the Norwegian economy. Today this region encourages migration from the Baltic States because Norway simply does not have enough local workers.
What impressed me most was the stoic attitude of a trade union leader who described the psychological stages he went through when this life shattering experience confronted him and his colleagues.
He described what happened very clinically: "Initially we were shocked. We never believed that this could happen to us. We spent a whole month under shock, hardly speaking even to our dear ones at home. We then realised that we had better make the best of the opportunities that the government was providing us with and take control of our own destiny. We rolled up our sleeves and started to find ways of how to reinvent ourselves."
No doubt, our political and business leader will continue to urge us not to worry and be happy. If this helps lift our grumpiness and angst, then so be it. But let us never believe that things will change without the need of hard work to shake off the shackles that are slowly but surely making us uncompetitive. In the present circumstances we need to adopt energy building practices, rather than resort to pain killers that will dull temporarily the bitter effect of the current world recession.