The Sky is not falling and this is not the first time we have witnessed short lead times

 I am constantly surprised by people’s reaction to something that happens in the market. We are witnessing a number of events in the industry that have short lead times and someone jumps on the soapbox and screams “It’s the way of the future”. I’ve got news for you.. .this is not the first time, and won’t be the last time, we see a number of events with short lead times.

In case everyone’s forgotten we have been through a market downturn before. Does anyone remember the late 80’s early 90’s? No... just me then. Showing my age obviously. And then again in the late 90’s there was a slump. Let’s face it, there’s always going to be ups and downs in the market and how we prepare for these is the key to surviving them.

How many of us in the good times have put our feet up, sipped our glass of champagne and sighed “life is good”. Guess what, the bubble will burst, the times will change and we will all be caught with our proverbial pants down. Have you bullet proofed your business? Even more importantly, have you bullet proofed your job? So how do you bullet proof a job? Simple answer, you can’t. But you can make sure that you have the skills, resources, networks, talents to see yourself through any crisis.

When was the last time you went to a piece of professional development where you actually learnt something? And learnt something that will benefit your career? So many of us go to PD’s but very few of us go to the right ones. One of the most frustrating things in our industry is watching people sit back and wait for things to come to them, and this includes PD. If you think you are lacking in an area of knowledge then go forth and seek. You may not get it from one of our industry associations or over the internet via correspondence, but you can find almost anything you want if you need to. Some of the best teachers are those that have life experience. Connect with someone, ask for help and they will give you the world. But remember nobody can be all things to you, you will learn different things from different people.

So now the market is on the rise. What are you doing in this time of change to prop up the sky? I hear China is about to crash again, how do you think this will affect the world market? My guess is it could be bad or it might not happen. Either way, push back from your desk, look around you and start to plan. Now... where’s that glass of champagne...