Written by Schon Condon in February, 2011

The noughties decade is now behind us and I know that many others like myself were very happy to see the end of 2010.  It is hard to believe that the decade evaporated so quickly.

As I write this we are seeing the beginning of the clean up in Queensland, the middle of the flooding in Victoria and the realities of New South Wales Power sell-off.

Regardless of how much everyone was happy to see the end of the last decade, I’m sure that they did not ask for this.  It is a time that we must genuinely consider those that have suffered and will go on to suffer not only financially but most importantly those that lost relatives and friends.  Certainly the thoughts and prayers of all of us here at Condon Associates are with them.

But on the positive side it is again very comforting to see how we as a nation can pitch in when the going really gets tough.  The situation of the area flooded was quoted on American TV as an area larger than France and Germany together.

In order to genuinely grow from such catastrophes, we must make sure we learn from the experience and what we do next must be a combination of the past as well as the lessons learnt.  The creation of new or higher levies, prevention of construction in permanently unsafe areas, clearing up confusing terminology in common contracts, designing systems to more efficiently deal with catastrophe and so forth.

One of the biggest issues that must be confronted is the damage to infrastructure and this will clearly eat into the funds that would have been available for future national enhancements. This is a reality, but the underlying issue must be from where the funds are cut. Will they come from the funds usually dedicated to planning and presenting dreams or will it come from that component that is actually allocated to “production”?   What is clearly needed is more “will do” and less waffle, let’s hope that that’s what we get.

On a more positive note, there is generally an upbeat in overall sentiment and this must be positive.  It is even pleasing that there is a greater acceptance of the existence of potential future risks.  Why is this positive?  Because you can actually avoid what you see coming, you can’t avoid what you can’t or won’t see.  Ask the people of Toowoomba!  American economists are now widely accepting the death of the US$ supremacy and (their prediction) the rise of the Chinese Yuan as the future world currency, their prediction is within twenty years.  We can be potentially well placed if this is a reality and this should be part of businesses long term strategies now.

Similarly some retailers vocally departed the last decade uttering that there needed to be legislation to level the playing field for much of the Internet sales.  Similar cries could be heard over prior years as Corner Stores disappeared, petrol stations changed, and strip shopping was consumed.  It is the comfortable incumbent that barks the loudest, seeking to avoid the omnipresent change.  Change is occurring and we all must move with it, profitability’s will change and there is even the potential that the outright lust for profit alone may wane, but there are some underlying fundamentals that remain consistent:-

• supply what people want
• be equitable in what you do
• provide a genuine service
• relate to the environment around you
• be willing to adapt
• but maintain a fundamental ethic, and
• ask to be paid fairly.

The last is often lost, I remember early training where you pushed the price to the point that the market would bear.  Latest technology was one example; it would arrive expensively and remain so for some time, today you can watch the price drop in a matter of weeks. People remember when they have been gouged and as a consequence keep vigilant for alternatives, whilst others will repeatedly go back to the same supplier because they “always feel I was treated fairly.”

These points become a key to business survival.

So in reality we enter a decade of opportunity, as it started it is going to be full of pain, joy, growth, experience, lessons and most importantly opportunity.  What is important is how we approach it.

I am looking forward to the experience; most importantly I look forward to sharing it with colleagues and friends, so let’s start the trip. It’s all about what we are brave enough to wish for, dream about, resolve and make HAPPEN.

Please enjoy the read.  I look forward to catching up soon.
 

PLEASE NOTE: All information contained in the articles below was correct at time of publishing.