The word luck as a noun can be better described as success or failure apparently brought about by chance rather than through one’s own actions. To substantiate this statement I must share the following story with you.
The last few horses of a poor ranch owner escaped because one of his employees mistakenly left the gate to the paddock open. With no more livestock left, the owner of the neighboring ranch told the poor ranch owner: “Very sorry for your loss. Bad luck.”
A few days later, the escaped horses returned to the poor ranch and with them they brought along so many more horses and other livestock. Was it bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?
Trying to tame the newly-acquired horses, the son of the no longer poor ranch owner broke his leg and therefore could no longer continue translating the new fortune into sellable livestock. Again, the neighbour spoke up and expressed his concern and said: “Bad luck.”
A few days later, service men arrived at the ranch as they were requesting the enrolment of young men in the country to join them in preparation for war. With a broken leg, they had no use for the son. Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?
In March 2013, Malta had a change in government as people were desperate for change. The Prime Minister, then leader of the Opposition, had given us a cause the majority believed in: “Malta Tagħna Lkoll” (Malta for all). Eighteen months later, the cause is diluted to a reality for the few chosen ones and the Maltese economy is experiencing significant challenges. Is this reality bad luck or good luck? Who knows?
The economic comment above is not based on statistics, it is based on a reality we in the business community are experiencing on a daily basis, witnessing our revenue and profit decrease as costs reach new heights.
Lack of innovation and creativity, lack of added value investments, lack of much-needed high-earning jobs are all a tragedy because they demonstrate our lack of strategic thinking.
Let’s hope that at the next election we would not have a need rather than a cause for change. Was the change we brought about in 2013 bad luck or good luck? Who knows?
Slowly, Malta is losing its economic momentum
Surely, luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity. In this country, the economic opportunities are not being created as the preparation (road map) was not in place and is still nowhere to be seen. We in the business community must acknowledge this reality now because, slowly, Malta is losing its economic momentum and this is truly the new cause that has become “taghna lkoll”.
In this country, politicians seem to fail to strike a balance. The government is either completely focused on the economy and governs the country and ignores the pleas of its people or the government is completely focused on the people and ignores the strategic needs of the country.
I seriously recommend to the government to strike the much desired balance between seeking popularity by tackling people’s needs and sustaining our economic future by ensuring that this country once again starts attracting value added investment.
Stop being 100 per cent in tactical mode and create a balance between being tactical and strategic. In the absence of strategic thinking and proper economic and business positioning for our country, we are risking to lose what we have collectively achieved and gained in the last decade.
We should know better and must never depend on luck, good or bad.
We must work together to bring about economic and business opportunities through a well-planned vision (a road map) that we in the business community have a responsibility to translate to a working business model that will ensure job creation and new investments that will make Malta proud.
Ivan Bartolo is a business executive.