Random Thoughts and Observations

Blog Posting, March 29, 2009

 Random thoughts and observations

 About six weeks ago, I was walking on 10ths Street and Ave A in the East village, New York City.   We were heading for an early Saturday morning haircut, figuring we’d start the day early and miss the crowds.  We never walk in that neighborhood at that time of day, usually our jaunts there are late afternoon or early evening, in tune with sort of hip New York.  I saw a most disturbing sight, it’s been going around in my head for weeks and I am finally putting it out for all of you.  

There are some really old parishes, churches and synagogues in downtown New York, the earliest dating from the early sixteenth century, including the earliest Jewish cemetery with grave dating from 1600’s on.  It’s a small hidden treasure just off St James Street in Chinatown.  It’s the first Jewish Burial ground in the new world and has many graves of young men who fought in the Revolutionary. More on this next time.

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/331565719/

 But I digress, we made the turn on east 10^th street and there was a line of over a hundred people, waiting for the soup kitchen to open.  It was freezing and the line embodied every ethnicity, age group, and the entire rainbow of New York.  Homeless, elderly, fathers with children, mothers with children, children with elderly parents, black, brown, white Asian, and every other color of the rainbow, young punk musicians, elderly men and women, people in wheelchairs and people in Addidas.  I guess that I am very naïve or very insulated, I was feeling bad for the hard working people who lost good jobs in the finance industry as I know many of them personally. 

Well my attitude changed completely that morning, I am the luckiest person in the world.  I have a roof over my head, food to eat, health care insurance the capacity to work and make a living.  We are responsible for other people, we who have all the gifts must see and touch how other people live, both around the world and in our small town that we call New York City.    I have no idea how to do this, my thoughts always go toward random acts of kindness, accepting that when someone asks you for something and you can give it, give it. 

 How does this couple with my stated discussion on how to grow a business in a recession?  I think that it does, I think that we need to remember that we are not the only people in the world, we need to look and see things that are happening around us and understand that that the things that we do ultimately effect the entire world.   

Martin Luther King's Birthday Sales

Martin Luther King’s Birthday Day 2009.  I remember when we celebrated the first Martin Luther King’s day, it took three years to really catch on, the first year the federal offices and some states’ offices closed, the next year the banks closed and the brokerages stayed open, the year after that the banks and brokerages closed and now we’ve finally reached the holiday epiphany, Martin Luther King’s Birthday Sales in all the stores.  

When thinking about equality and achievement, I think that we’ve come a long way in my lifetime, but we have not come to where we need to be yet, not even close.  I’ll try to explain how we will know when we’ve reached the place where we need to be and all race, creed, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious orientation, (I know I’ve missed some but you get the idea) etc. etc. is no longer and issue.  The only thing we should care about is can the person do the job, period, hard stop. 

Do this experiment with me, there is a section in most business papers that announces who has moved to high level jobs in corporations, look at the announcements, when John Smith III is appointed to a high level spot, it never announces “John Smith III, the 56^th protestant white male in a row has been appointed president of firm ABC ” it just says “John Smith III has been appointed”.  Imagine if it was a black Muslim woman who was appointed, boy you would see all the dirty details as if it’s a self congratulatory note, HEY look at us we’ve done this.  

THERE SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENCE; there is none if the person is competent, so until I see the same level of description without the self-congratulatory additions we haven’t succeeded yet.  Think about it…………

Whew-2008 is over- What Now?

Whew, 2008 is over, what happens now?   Welcome to my blog, I am sitting and thinking how we can make sure that 2009 is not like 2008. 

 Let’s not write off 2008 just yet, we accomplished a lot.  As a nation we rallied under that banner of change to create a better world.  It’s the first time in recent history that I remember being elated at the election of a president.  I wish Barack Obama and his team the strength to focus on the important things, and the ability to ignore the trivialities that I’m sure will pursue them.   

We also survived, we woke up this morning and we are alive, that’s a big deal.  

From an economic perspective we are all in a bit of a funk, we’ve lost money, jobs, savings, but most importantly we’ve lost the guarantee that everything was always going to go up.  We’ve lost the trust in the regulatory agencies (the ones that actually existed), we no longer believe in the American dream….whoa stop right there, this is the American dream the America dream says that we have the strength to go through the bad times, that we can come back after anything.  

2009 is going to be a great year I decided that.  I don’t know how it’s going to be great, I don’t know why it’s going to be great, but it will be great, I decided that.  Do you want to come along for the ride? 

Here’s my biggest goal for 2009, wake up in the morning of January 1, 2010 and be alive. After that I’ll ride the roller coaster and let you know how it came out.  

I’m working on a growing a new business during the most difficult economic period in the last 70 or so years; I must be crazy, yes crazy like a fox.  This is the time to try something new, the world will be different and we want to be part of the new world, let’s take charge of making the differences, and be proactive instead of reactive. 

In this blog I'll  talk about my business and how I’m building it, and other random ramblings.....come along for the ride. 

Claudine Halpern