When Jobs And Profits Disappear, Courage And Innovation Are Needed

In times of economic scarcity, with many experiencing job loss and companies seeing declining sales and profits, it requires courage and innovation to avoid either taking desperate actions that violate one’s purpose and values, or becoming paralyzed by a sense of helplessness. Rather, it’s essential to keep trying different paths that move in the direction of your purpose, in a deliberate and confident manner. Therefore innovation becomes even more necessary than usual.

The battleground for the struggle between courage and fear is the Self. Self is the first of The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom; seven sets of skills or competencies necessary for success. Self is represented by the S in acronym SOPPHIA, the Greek word for wisdom. Skills of self-awareness and self-management are severely tested during these challenging economic times. The I in SOPPHIA represents Innovation, the ability to generate ideas and to develop them into services and products that create value for others. Skills of Innovation can be brought to bear once courage has gained the advantage over fear. One of the P’s in SOPPHIA represents Purpose, another of The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom. Clarity about your life Purpose serves as a compass or GPS during turbulent times.

If you are in this type of situation either as a job seeker, business owner, or business leader, you may well experience moments of intense fear; fear of failure and of the unknown; fear of not being able to find the resources to sustain yourself, others who depend on you, or the business. You may also feel regret, resentment or self-pity about your situation. But all these feelings are challenges that must be overcome in order to see and grasp the opportunities that will arise. They are reactions to your situation, and are not identical with your situation. You can change these emotional reactions with practice, and that is usually necessary in order to successfully deal with a challenging situation. You also will need to act even while you still have doubts and are not fully confident in your ability to succeed. Yes, opportunities for jobs and for profits are fewer in times like these, but they still exist. It requires more resolve and creativity than usual to attain them, and that is your task. All your resources and sensibilities must be applied deliberately.

Don’t become complacent either, waiting for someone else to take action. Action is required of you, but it needs to be thoughtful action. There will be times when you don’t have any idea of what will work, and neither do your advisors. At such times, it is necessary to take a few steps in some direction, your best guess, and observe the results. Such small experiments can help you to find the correct path without too much cost in time or other resources.

Remember that the best value proposition you can offer to an employer or a customer is still innovation: that is, the generation of creative ideas, and the development of these into services and products that are valuable to others. You must use your own store of creativity to add something to the value creation process for the customer or the employer. Therefore, it’s important to keep your mind and emotions in that energetic, open and creative space, and to also apply that creativity to the process of marketing your value to employers or customers. Keep the focus on meeting their needs rather than your own. By doing this successfully, you will be able to add value and therefore you will be compensated for that.

If you feel like you’re at a dead end and think that you have a full perspective on the situation, remind yourself that there is always more going on than you know. After all, you’re not God. Get past your fear. Get past yourself. Look around with new eyes. There are possibilities and resources that you have access to that you are not using. It’s not going to be easy. But you will get it done. I tell you this from both personal and professional experience.

I’m Dr. Bernard Brookes. To get coaching from me, go to www.sopphia.com.