Retrenchment and the power of re-

2 years ago

Retrenchment and the power of re-

Re-cession. We’re in the middle of it and people are talking about their jobs, livelihood and future. According to the Huffington Post, jobless claims rose in 46 states last week, with California posting it’s highest jobless rate in three decades (11.2%). What’s more, while the economy tanks technology continues to change industries and the way we do business under our feet. As a result many people will not be absorbed back into those industries once the economy recovers because they will have moved on. As Jeff Jarvis, media columnist for The Guardian andauthor of What Would Google Do?, rightly noted:

Media – music, newspapers, TV, magazines, books – may be lucky to be among the first to undergo this radical restructuring. Other industries and institutions – advertising, manufacturing, government – are next and they, like their predecessors, don’t see what’s coming, especially if they think all they’re undergoing is a crisis. The change is bigger, more fundamental, and more permanent than that.

I had one such conversation this weekend with a smart, creative friend. He wondered what would happen if he lost his job, had to start again, if his industry had fundamentally changed? Instead of panicking, he did something very smart (not surprisingly). He put the situation to good use by asking himself three questions.

1. What do I like to do? When you are forced to change direction you ask yourself some pretty fundamental questions.

ow long has it been since ‘what you like to do’ has been important to anyone, including yourself? In short, he Re-considered.

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Retrenchment and the power of re-