Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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Leadership

Your 2020 Attitude: Surviving is Winning

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In response to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve written recently about Black Swans, maintaining perspective and anticipating government assistance.

Today, it’s all about attitude.

Not since the convergence of two deadly, cataclysmic events over a century ago – when a World War teamed-up with a Spanish Influenza pandemic – has there been a comparable time of pain, fear, and uncertainty as today. We’ve watched the novel coronavirus expand from a regional outbreak in China to a textbook pandemic, on its way to causing a global economic crisis.

When the Enter key was pushed to send my “Perspective” column exactly three weeks ago, less than 200 Americans had succumbed to COVID-19. In the blink of 21 days, that number is now over 16,000. No one was prepared for the sheer velocity of the human and financial toll as, incredibly, the coronavirus infected the planet. It’s now abundantly clear that this is one mean disease – tough and angry.

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The Paycheck Protection Program and your small business

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The coronavirus pandemic has thrust Main Street America into a very challenging and unprecedented economic period.

Most businesses have been negatively impacted and millions are in peril. Every owner is justified in their concern for the next few months.

But it’s important to remember that we’re dealing with a global pandemic like no living person has ever experienced, which has caused an economic crisis, the abruptness of which no living person has ever seen. As I said last week – this isn’t your fault. And once we “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus, there’s every reason to believe the economy will return to the growth footing we knew only a few weeks ago.

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Keeping the coronavirus pandemic – and our response – in perspective

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Perspective: The capacity to view things in terms of their true and relative importance.

Four stock market crashes, seven recessions, three wars, three pandemics, one global financial collapse, one Y2K – and 9-11. This scary list identifies the varied major crises which have taken place during my long career. In the aggregate, they’ve ground a perspective lens through which I view momentous moments, like the pandemic of COVID-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Of all the things on my list, we’re likely to agree that the two most frightening and destructive are the 9-11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. But you might be surprised to learn that the challenge providing me with the best perspective on the coronavirus pandemic is the Y2K event. Not for what happened, but because of what didn’t happen.

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The intangible force of organizational special sauce

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“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”

You may remember this jingle that once described the McDonald’s Big Mac. That burger was created to go head-up against the Hardee’s Husky, which was, well, husky, and the first-to-market with a “special sauce.”

Over the years, the term “special sauce” has been re-deployed beyond the burger wars, from condiment to handy metaphor. Management and organizational nerds, like me, have co-opted the term to identify a level of intangible performance that manifests beyond standard expectations.

Organizational special sauce in the marketplace isn’t a strategy or campaign, nor can it be achieved with a slogan or mission statement. No special sauce was ever the fruit of an algorithm, big data, or other amalgamation of ones and zeros. To the chagrin of Wall Street quants and activist investors, organizational special sauce is an incalculable, unprojectable, and intangible force. It’s 100% performance leverage produced by an active ingredient made of highly engaged human beings loving to work together toward something they all believe in.

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A big black bird is coming at you. Are you prepared?

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What do a rock, a flea, and a plate have in common with a small business? Hint: they’re all associated with surprise and danger. Any ideas?

Here’s another hint: a bird is sometimes used to refer to them. Anything yet? Okay, I’ll stop.

The rock is the dinosaur-killing asteroid that slammed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago. The flea contributed to wiping out half of Europe during the Dark Ages. The plate was the tectonic kind that slipped on Boxing Day 2004, creating the south Asia, 9.3 megathrust earthquake and tsunami. And that small business? Patience, grasshopper. I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, about that bird …

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Lincoln’s leadership, courage and perseverance continues to inspire

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It’s that time of year when we’re reminded of the life of one of the most famous people in the history of modern civilization. What follows is a little history and a lot of inspiration.

Earthlings in every country on the planet have heard of the American who was born dirt-poor in a log cabin on the frontier, 2011 years ago this week. Even if they don’t know why, people know the name Abraham Lincoln. And for good reason. Besides almost three dozen Lincoln monuments (including internationally), there are over 600 schools, dozens of cities and counties, and no less than a gazillion streets, parks, buildings, and sculptures celebrating this great man’s iconic name and countenance.

As the 16th president of the United States of America, it’s generally accepted that Lincoln’s leadership during one of the greatest conflicts in human history was a profile in courageous genius. Even though the American Civil War was horrendous and the post-war era harsh, prolonged and contentious, both resulted in the successful reassembly of the United States – sans slavery. When you consider the blessing that the re-United States became to the world for the past century and a half, it’s no leap of logic that Lincoln is recognized as one of the most important individuals in the history of Western Civilization.

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