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Mind Capture

By Tony Rubleski
President & Author,
Mind Capture Group
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Recently, I read an article in USA Today stating that corporate America has a trillion dollars in cash reserves. This is a massive number. I was fascinated by this staggering amount and it got me thinking. Frankly, it proved that there is no shortage of money or opportunity. Yes, some of you reading this column may be tempted to turn to the next page or scoff at the direction of this article. That’s fine, but if you intend to stay with me for a few minutes, I simply ask you to bring an open mind to see the potential silver lining that I believe exists.

In my travels, research and working with lots of diverse businesses and nonprofits, I’m continually on the lookout for trends within their industries to help them grow and serve more people. Knowledge and being able to connect dots is extremely important in my line of work. It’s like being a detective in relation to how people feel or what economists call consumer confidence, to identify mindsets and attitudes at work to identify possible solutions.

What I’m still discovering is that many firms are continuing to let the scarcity mentality dictate their planning and thinking. The result is often apparent in the results: mediocrity and non-growth. I’m stunned at the number of so-called “leaders” I meet, e-mail or speak with on the phone that are letting fear excessively cloud their judgment. Left unchecked, it will continue to curtail growth opportunities. Fear of the economy hangs like black storm clouds in many a board room. It’s often not on the meeting agenda, but it ends up sidetracking people and taking up valuable time and focus away from growth-related topics.

I’m going to be bold and direct here and not sugarcoat what I believe is the economic elephant in the room that far too many people and firms continue to deny and ignore. The play-it-safe mentality is grinding the current economy to a halt. Yes, some of you may be upset or agree with me on the last statement. Please note that I’m not advocating teenage recklessness with resources and profits. The lessons of that behavior were evident with the TARP fiasco begun back in 2008. Enough said.

Is it any wonder why scared money is being stockpiled? Scared money crushes expansion, research, but more importantly jobs. Until the mood and attitude changes we’ll still continue to see many firms stretch the bandwidth and capacity of the most valuable thing they have: people! Burned out employees who are doing too much versus adding more people to help out and leverage new opportunities is evident everywhere you look. Yes, workforce fatigue is becoming more and more common these days as witnessed by the continual poor service and follow up that many businesses exhibit each day.

What I’m driving at here, is that until we believe that growth is possible and is a good thing, the economy will continue to sit stuck in neutral going nowhere. The attack on business must not continue to dominate our media. Most businesses are good. Sadly, the malcontents and bad apples are given excessive airtime and attention. I’ve yet to see a better system than capitalism for creating opportunity. Yes, it has flaws, but I’ll take it any day over the alternatives. Ask almost any immigrant and they’ll still tell you this is why America is the land of opportunity.

We do have choices. If we keep letting fear run the economy, money will continue to pile up. Frustration will mount. The media will continue to beat the war drum of negative economic news and we will sadly reap what we sow. Or, on the other hand, if each of us works daily on changing our mindset and getting busy seeking pro-active solutions, we can start to turn things around for the better. I urge you if you’ve read this far, to create your own stimulus plan each day by upgrading your skills, sharing ideas and solutions, staying positive and working hard versus the illusion of waiting for someone else to show up and magically do it for you.

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