Birth of the Phoenix

It can be from our dissatisfaction that we often get the motivation to do something new. That is one of the themes conveyed by Wharton professor G. Richard Shell in his book, “Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success.” According to him, we are, in some sense, defined by the conflicts we overcome.

This is perhaps true across many realms — personal, corporate, national, global. 

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “What Should I Do Next With My Life? New Ways to Define Success,” from Knowledge@Wharton, Sept. 24, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “The Recession Made U.S. Teenagers Less Materialistic,” from Harvard Business Review, Nov. 1, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Chinese Land Reform: A World to Turn Upside Down,” from The Economist, Nov. 2, 2013.]

After the Great Recession, the recovery may be slow from a wide-angle view, but adversity does seem to breed innovation. For example, persistent controversy in the areas of credit cards, health care and financial services led to new legislative approaches in recent years. 

In a push to re-energize manufacturing in this country, President Obama spoke at a recent dog-and-pony conference for foreign entrepreneurs to help persuade them to build plants, set up offices and hire people in the United States.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Obama’s Pitch to the World: Bring us Your Money, Your Factories and Your Jobs,” from The Washington Post, Oct. 31, 2013.]

Often what holds us back from aggressive forward movement is fear — fear of being wrong, fear of ridicule, fear of judgment, fear of failure and even the fear of success. But many of those who fail at first ultimately succeed, often against great odds. They believe in themselves and/or perhaps associate with and surround themselves with people whose advice they trust and respect.

Indeed, Warren Buffett advised during the financial mayhem of 2008 to “be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “When Buffett Was Right, but We Were Too Scared,” from The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 31, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “BlackRock Global Investor Pulse Survey: Five Years after Crisis, Many Investors Still Shun Risk,” from The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 29, 2013.]

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