Riddell: Business owners should resolve to get through crisis

If there is one thing that is consistent about the end of the year, it’s the positive expectations that many of us confer upon the namesakes of that annual process known as New Year’s Resolutions.

We all resolve to make some changes in the very real anticipation that through the changes a “better” state will be achieved. I suspect, however, that with the current economic crisis continuing to unfold, some of us may fall victim to the very dangerous “What’s the use?” syndrome.

While philosophically never a supporter of New Deal politics, I have always recognized the vital role that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt played in being a sustaining beacon of hope for all Americans. Using the medium of the day, his famous radio fireside chats were basically conversations with the American public emphasizing the notion that the future would be better. Never did he allow a tone of defeatism to creep into these psychologically important communications.

Politics aside, I think that this model would be a very good basis for a New Year’s resolution as we head into 2009. While the attitude itself is not the cure for all that ails us, properly channeled it can be the catalyst for what will cure us.

Whether we wish to accept it or not, the marketplace drastically and irretrievably changed on Sept. 15. The federal government’s decision to financially step in to areas of the economy previously considered off limits has forever changed the rules of commerce, not only in this country but also in the world. Whether you or agree with the decision or not, we have to accept the change.

Expectations of the citizens are being affected. Expectations of quick solutions are founded on the unrealistic premise that what took over 20 odd years to create could be unwound in a matter of weeks.

The public’s fear is based upon just what additional pain, discomfort and insecurity the continued unwinding will bring. These are rational fears; yet it is irrational, if not impossible, to burden the new president and the federal government with the expectation of having all the answers to all the problems and right now.

In spite of best intentions, when government solutions fail, politicians still get paid the next week. But when businesses fail, entrepreneurial managers and their employees don’t.

The solution cannot reside with the government. Rather it must rest with the creative ingenuity of entrepreneurial leaders. Resignation to the status quo has to be challenged by every entrepreneurial leader if we are to harness the creativity of our work force and devise solutions to problems never before experienced.

And this brings us back to the recommendation for that one New Year’s resolution for all business leaders to make, communicate, indeed personify. Simply stated, “We will do it, all of us. We will wake up every day determined to find a way and do what it takes to get through this challenge!”

You owe it your employees and to your customers to be this beacon of faith, this cause for optimism, this guard against defeatism. But employees and customers aside, you owe it to yourself.

Best wishes for a prosperous New Year and sincere thanks for taking the time out of your busy days to read this column.

John F. Riddell Jr., director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth-Hamilton County, writes each Tuesday about entrepreneurs and their impact on companies and the marketplace. Submit comments to his attention by writing to Business Editor John Vass Jr., Chattanooga Times Free Press, P.O. Box 1447, Chattanooga, TN 37401-1447, or by e-mailing him at business@timesfreepress.com