Christopher Ingraham at the Washington Post, citing a Brookings Institution report, notes that U.S. businesses are being destroyed faster than they are being created. His article begins, “The American economy is less entrepreneurial than at any time in the last three decades.”
Frank Bruni at the New York Times write about America the Shrunken. Bruni, on the American psyche, writes: “The American dream, 2014 edition: Squirrel away nuts for a leaner tomorrow. The worst is yet to come, so insure yourself against it if you’re among the lucky few who can . . . More and more I get the sense that we’ve lost it, and by “it” I mean the optimism that was always the lifeblood of this luminous experiment, the ambition that has been its foundation. the swagger that made us so envied and so reviled.”
The fact that fewer business are being started and those that are aren’t making it through their first year means that anyone with the gumption and a little hustle are going to have an easier time succeeding. It’s always easier when fewer are willing to compete with you for attention and the opportunity to serve customers. But there are going to be many more haters criticising you for being brash, bold, and in their eyes, reckless.
Optimism is in short supply in our political and business leadership. But people aren’t too long for leaders who believe that things are getting worse and duck and cover. People follow leaders who are certain that a better future awaits them and drive towards that future. Leaders who don’t believe that the future will be better aren’t really leaders. There is no such thing as a pessimistic leader, even though there may be pessimists with formal authority and power.
Don’t allow your mind to be infected with a negative belief system. It’s morning wherever you are as soon as you believe it is.
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