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positive attitude Posts
We’ve got to use the ‘C’ word ….
March 23rd, 2009
Confidence. That’s what we all need.
OK – we all know that it’s tough out there, but without the ‘confidence’ factor we are going to stay in this mess for longer than we thought.
David Tang, entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Shaghai Tang and owner of my favourite Hong Kong restaurant, China Club, has summed it up perfectly in a recent interview with the BBC. ‘There is an ocean of people who are now feeling so depressed that they have become resigned to the fact that they are in deep trouble … and they have told eveyone else they are in deep trouble’.
Pessimism has an uncanny knack of being self-fullfilling. Tang adds ‘what we need to do now is to sit down and calm down and go back to basics. And most important of all, shed our sense of pessimism’
So confidence needs to be the order of the day. Here are just a few examples of how confidence is winning through:
Agent Provocateur in having confidence in what they are doing and sticking to their business model – producing a 26% increase in sales to the year up to mid March.
Justin King CEO of Sainsburys in sticking to the company’s 125 year old values.
Sarah Weller, MD of Argos in having the confidence to keep on opening stores in a digital age, in the knowledge that online sales increase 9-fold if there is a store in the area, and post unedited customer reviews on their website (which, even when negative, increase conversion).
David Tang ends up with a nugget of advice to governments the world over, which seems to be what we are all now saying;
‘In particular governments must immediately instigate infrastructure projects to increase employment, and they must force banks, particularly those to whom they have rescued, to lend again to small business’….
Branson says the time is right….
March 10th, 2009
OK – hands up! Richard Branson was at my first school. Albeit I was only 5 years old and he had left by the time I arrived, he was still at the same school as me, so I have always felt I had a personal link to him. Of course he doesn’t know me from Adam.
But let’s face it, he’s probably one of the most popular business leaders around, and in this time of economic woe, good old Richard is coming out fighting – ‘don’t be gloomy – now the time is just right to be like me’ he says, in a recent Times article.
The Virgin founder believes that the depth of the recession and it’s impact on once ingregnable industries has presented entrepreneurs with their greatest opportunity for generations. ‘Fortunes are made out of recessions. A lot of entrepreneurs get going in the economic depths because the barriers for entry are lower’, says Branson.
Although he believes the recession will be long, he is optimistic for the 4.7million small and medium sized businesses. ‘If you are best in your field, don’t cut back on quality because the best always survive’, he claims. However, he adds that the ambitions of the next generation could be scuppered by a lack of financing by the banks.
Branson’s advice; ’We cannot allow perfectly good companies to go to the wall just because of liquidity. If your bank is behaving badly, then shout’.
Gloom, doom and despondency. Where is the positivity?!
February 17th, 2009
The snow. The blizzards. The cold. And then the rain.
The grey skies day after day. Postcards from someone ’sunning it up’ in the Caribbean – wish you were here …. if only….
Gordon Brown. Miserable as hell. England lose the Football, Cricket and Rugby. More snow, rain and wind. And then Darling telling us the economy is as bad as it’s been for 100 years. Let’s emigrate!
Then on Monday morning the rain stopped, the temperature rose and the sun shone. I noticed that dawn was suddenly earlier. It felt as if Noah had got out of his boat. In a funny sort of way it felt that things may get better.
I know not a lot has changed in the news, but positiveness is so important – personally and in business. We need that ‘positive’ factor back; that ‘can do’ attitude, and if the oncoming Spring and change of weather can put a ’spring’ into our step, then that can only be a good thing.