Be Upbeat about Business — Even When it Hurts
Posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009
My old pal Ken called to say his life sucked and he was going to shoot himself. It wasn’t the first time. I’d heard Ken’s mantra for months. Infuriated at the idea of someone throwing his life away, I said, “The problem is you don’t have a gun. Stay where you are — I’ll be right over to shoot you.”
I’ve been criticized many times by those I tell this story to, including a mental health professional who reamed me out for my total lack of sensitivity and for taking a risk that might have led to tragic consequences. Point taken. I still tell the story, though, and in a minute I’ll relate the ending.
Why I bring up Ken’s saga: In today’s “tough business climate” (a phrase I’m really growing tired of), it’s amazing how often companies lead with their tale of woe. It’s a sad fact of life that nobody, including journalists, particularly cares. Being cornered by some corporate exec who bemoans a bad quarter, growing customer attrition, reduced consumer spending, etc. etc., is the last thing a reporter wants. What industry leadership is doing about its current challenges — and what they’re looking to in the future — that’s the ticket.
Some years ago The Washington Post ran a series about research conducted on Holocaust survivors. Talk about people who’d suffered the worst imaginable fate and yet — through divine grace, some miracle of will, or whatever you prefer to call it — managed to come through. What caught my attention: Researchers uncovered a significant difference in mental attitudes. Those who had put this experience behind them, incredible as such a feat may seem, went on to live happy, productive lives. Those who couldn’t do so remained miserable.
Of course, we’re all different. Not everyone has that rare quality that makes it possible to live in the moment, regardless of what’s come before. Our hearts go out to those for whom recovery from life’s trials seems forever elusive.
But I can’t picture business leaders in the latter class. We expect them to lead, not languish. That’s why they got the job. When a CEO justifies his pessimism by citing gloomy economic forecasts, as so many do, it’s time he extricated his head from his you-know-what. “Economic forecasting” is a joke. Almost without fail, recessions and boom times alike begin long before economists are aware of it, and end way before they realize what’s happened. Smart business leaders know this, and press on.
Back to Ken. He was horrified and angry at my crass attitude, and tore me up then & there. I could’ve backpedaled and spouted warm platitudes on how things’d get better, as I usually did, but instead I took an insane gamble.
“Well, I have no choice but to do it myself. I certainly won’t loan you a weapon — when was the last time you returned anything you borrowed?” That stopped Ken short. He surprised me with a laugh. Deep down something had clicked.
Today Ken’s a successful journalist and happily married father of two beautiful kids. People who knew Ken in his dark moments marvel at the difference in him today. When asked what turned him around, he says: “A lot of things, but it started with the guy who offered to shoot me.”
Sometimes I’m haunted by what I said that day. I’d never do such a thing again. What if I’d been wrong? What if this final desperate effort to save a friend had backfired? I’ll never know. In the end, the doubts that make me question my own sanity that long-ago day don’t matter, and I put them aside. Ken chose life. I moved on from a difficult moment.
Business leaders should, too.
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