Don't worry, be focused

With excessive consumerism hitting us harder than a ton of bricks, we've tuned out of living life the sensible way. Canada-based international business consultant and life coach John Kanary reveals the back-to-basics approach.

In the middle of the global economic downturn it is important to adopt the correct attitude to recession, and a better perspective can perhaps save the day. An interesting case in point is this amusing allegory of how money works.

In a small town on the south coast of France, the Easter holiday is in full swing. But as it is also raining, business is bleak. Everyone is in heavy debt. Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel and asks for a room. He places a 100-euro note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect his room located on the third floor. The hotel owner hurriedly picks up the banknote and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes 100 euros. The butcher takes the money and races to his wholesaler to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay 100 euros for chickens he purchased some time ago. The farmer triumphantly gives the 100-euro note to his son for his extra weekend work. The son goes quickly to the hotel, as he owed the hotel for his wedding anniversary dinner.

At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down the stairs to the reception and informs the hotel owner that he found his room unsatisfactory, and takes his 100 euros back and departs. There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the townspeople begin to feel optimistic about the future.

When the chips are down it is comforting to see the silver lining in the dark cloud. Meeting someone like John Canary is akin to finding that silver lining. A motivational speaker and business consultant, John Kanary, from Canada, has a very no-nonsense approach to situations like the economic downturn and advocates a pragmatic outlook. He unabashedly reiterates the homilies we learnt from our grandmothers.

"No working professional today is immune to the global financial crisis. It is an extraordinary wake-up call for the future and how we do business. We all have to turn this ordeal into an opportunity in order for companies and professional careers to survive," he says.

Kanary was in Dubai on the invitation of Susan Castle, a UAE-based life coach who runs Out with the Dots, a life coaching organisation. Castle plans to hold intensive workshops with corporations and individuals, advising them on behavioural approaches and business strategies to combat the current situation.

First and foremost, we must acknowledge that there is a problem. Quit euphemising about it, Kanary says. "We can't change the economic crisis we are experiencing around the world, but we can change how we deal with it. What we must do is focus on the result we want and how to get there."

Usually when a crisis like this hits all of us at the same time, we are compelled to wonder what really caused it. Was it the people with insatiable greed, reckless investment strategies and high-risk leverages who drove the world to this, or was it the situation which triggered the worst in people?

Kanary thinks it's important to stop looking for things or people to blame at this stage. It is better, he says, to accept that it is everyone's responsibility to clean up and pick up the pieces. The true test of people is the manner in which they respond to a crisis.

"The situation was created and there were some serious people who tightened up on their money. Some people drove their companies into the ground. What we need to understand is that prosperity and adversity are part and parcel of a cycle of change. We have had many meltdowns before and we survived and bounced back. Change is an inevitable part of life; nothing remains the same, ever."

An important observation he makes is that there are those who suffer and those who prosper in difficult times. "Recession is not the same for everyone. There are people who are getting richer, lending money to people in need, buying, selling, etc. In 1980, the mortgage interest to a house I bought was around 18 per cent. I needed it, so I took it. It was a drain on me, but the person I was paying was having a good time. I got through it because I decided to. That is what we all need to do take a decision on things and show a will to go through the times."

So how do we deal with this? Jean Paul Sartre said it best: "What is important is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us". And Kanary thinks we have to be very practical and accept what is happening around us.

He echoes Sartre's thought: "All of us are faced with challenges in life but it is the choices we make that shape our lives. We have had good times and now we have to realise that like bad times, good times also end. Some people hang in there and get the benefit in the end. Others move on to look for greener pastures. There are many young CEOs of companies who have never been through a recession and are finding it really difficult. No school ever teaches you about how to handle recession. In a company that was consulting me in Canada during the last recession, there were about 35 sales people. When recession hit and the market crashed, nearly all of them left, and only 14 remained with the company. Most of these 14 who decided to hang in there are doing very well today and I think it's because they decided to stay on."

It is an accepted fact of life that going through the grind toughens us. Sometimes a bitter pill is a requirement to remedy a sickness. What is important is that we mustn't abandon our core values in the face of a crisis to look for the easiest way out. "I think recession has the power to change our lives. But it should not change our standards or our ethics," says Kanary.

To illustrate his point, he cites the example of how in the US, boat owners would scratch their names off their vessels and abandon them in marinas so they could claim insurance and report their boats stolen. A fine example of how people abandon their principles to rush towards a quick exit. On the other hand, there are families that are hanging in there, taking a hard look at their expenses and income, cutting out on luxuries, tightening their budgets, approaching those to whom they owe money to sit across the table and work out a deal to pay piecemeal. Why can't everyone do that?

"I think that a recession is a great opportunity to build on relationships. A company that was consulting me actually sat down its employees instead of laying them off and held a serious discussion on how to improve transactions, better their sales figures and work harder. That served to improve the employer-employee bond."

On the domestic front, Kanary thinks this is the greatest time for teenagers to grow up. "It is a great time for them to learn the basics of expenditure and income and also austerity. Success does not come without hard work. What is success? Is it about material things? About stuff or just money? I think success is the progress of realisation of the working ideal. In other words, success is not just a destination, it's a journey. It's how you react to recession that makes the difference."

Kanary feels that nothing can change the fundamental principles of the manner in which we conduct business and in times like these, it is important not to lose focus of that.

"At a Canadian company that consulted me, the employer, looking to tighten his spending, invited his sales group and told them he would be cancelling all their incentive programmes and incentive trips. What's surprising is that the sales staff actually agreed with him. I believe that this is a company that's building on the fundamentals of putting the interests of the client before that of the employees, and that's likely to hold them all in good stead in the coming times."

Kanary urges individuals and the business community to stop the blame game and have each one of us own up to our responsibilities. He cites the example of credit cards and how our greed got the better of us when it came to big spending.

He uses an extreme opinion to make his point. "In Canada, even your pet can get a credit card. It is so easy. No one bothers to see how you propose to pay your credit bills and run a drive through service handing out credit to whoever asks for it. If the banks are to blame, we need to equally share that blame and take responsibility for the negligence."