A Touchstone is a charm. Traditionally, it is carried around in the pocket and rubbed when one needs luck. Starting this week, here is a touchstone to help understand, survive and perhaps even thrive in the current financial crisis that is affecting the world over.
Ancient Chinese saying – In every crisis, there is an opportunity.
We can all see the Crisis, but where is the Opportunity?
The world is in crisis right now. It is by no mistake that the Chinese letter/ hierologlyphic representing opportunity is the same as the one for crisis. In this current time of turmoil and economic depression the world markets are going into free fall, and amidst all these uncertainties, a climate of fear is shaking the foundation of most people’s lives as the companies they work for begin to tremble and in some cases, fall. The process however is nothing new, for mankind has gone through all this repeatedly on an almost cyclical basis since the ancient Egyptian/Indian civilisations. Then, it was nature that was the root cause, that in turn caused economic chaos with the advent of famine, flood, locusts, earthquakes and the like. There has been an economic holocaust in some way or other in almost every corner of the world periodically at every stage of civilisation. Usually though, this is rarely felt even by their neighbours, let alone the world at large. However in a world that has become a global village with every advance in technology, it is no wonder that this particular crisis this time around affects one and all.
However reverting to why the Chinese have the terms crisis and opportunity represented by the same hieroglyphic, one would have to go back historically. Wherein, you will see that it is in these times of trial and tribulation, of crisis and destruction, both economic and otherwise that great fortunes have been made, great careers have taken off and, that leadership has been forged and where mankind has actually evolved onto greater heights by making a leap forward and onwards. If one were to look at the last century as benchmark, then both the World Wars and the Great Depression were periods when the great media moguls and business barons built empires that have since spanned a century.
Historically, each period of crisis has precipitated a perio od great economic growth. The crash of 1929 for instance, was in a sense, a balancing that was long overdue. Primarily because it was in the tail end of what was known as the Roaring Twenties. A decade where the world economies spun out of control resulting in a need for balance and the crash of ‘29 was about reversing the equilibrium; arguably thereby, initiating massive growth in its wake. The 1930s then saw the awakening of several economic powerhouses. However, one cannot see too much of a parallel in this today because there were many other forces at play. Conceptually however, the ebb and flow of the economic tide is just a natural adjustment. On occasion, tsunamis can also happen. This crisis is perhaps one that is long overdue. Economic pundits have been predicting it from the late 1990s onwards. The US based Ravi Batra’s famous prediction for one , where he expected a sharp rise in the US stock markets in the 1980s, followed by a cataclysmic drop and a depression in or around 1990 and later in 1999 in his book, Crash of the Millennium. A little later maybe, but still on course.
So much for economic prattle. For the man on the street the basic issue of providing food, shelter and warmth for his family remains the same. Depending on one’s geographical location, this crisis will affect us all at different times and different levels of severity, but it WILL affect us all. So let’s get down to reality per se– that the fundamental asset of economic growth is and always will be the human capital. It is people that continue to make success out of nothing at all and it is people that are going to emerge from the crisis either as lions or sheep. If you choose to step back and let the economic tide carry you, then it is going to unceremoniously dump you high and dry on some barren outcropping. On the other hand if you choose to be a lion, then this crisis is the best possible time. It is the time to avail of all the skill sets, of the infrastructure, of all the technology, of the real estate that you could not or would not have dared to venture into 6 months ago because of cost or availability. This is the time to begin building upon for the next ten years.
People are still your primary assets and they have never been more accessible than in this period. In the world of micro-financing and network marketing for instance, this is the beginning of the Golden Era. While the world adjusts to its new economic climate, people still need the basic goods and services and what better way to get it across to them than via network marketing. Now better than ever, is the time to talk to people about how to change their lives. How to change their perspectives and their outlook because needs and desires have not changed, merely the ability to achieve them. The methodologies that they have employed for a lifetime have now begun to stumble and even have crumbled. Here is where a new paradigm shift needs to take place. Here is where the network marketing industry can come into its own. When the systems fail, what better way can you rely upon, can you expound upon, can you build upon, than just telling people that it’s all simply about people helping people to raise mankind.