RussBroomell.com

I’ve got to admit it – I don’t understand most “isms”, especially racism.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people feel racism and practice racial prejudice and discrimination, and I understand a very little of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that belief.  I’m not trying to diminish the damage caused throughout history by various “isms” – racism, sexism, nationalism, even “faith-ism”.  I just don’t understand why people would limit themselves and their thinking with such small ideas.

I’ve thought about it a lot and I just can’t understand why people, if they thought about it even a little, would believe that other people are bad just because they are different in some superficial way.  I can understand not trusting someone because they have been untrustworthy to you or to others in the past.  I can’t understand not trusting someone because of the color of their skin.  My life would not be nearly as rich if I stayed away from people based on race, religion, age, politics, gender, or whatever.  How foolish I would be to limit myself in that way.

There are plenty of real things to fear without making up new ones. Sometimes, we just seem to invent junk to make life difficult for ourselves.

One of the funniest (well, really the saddest) things I have seen in this economic downturn is people who are giving up.  They have been in business successfully for years, and they have made money, but with all the bad news out there, they are giving up what made them great.  They are essentially outsourcing their focus.  They are doing it with the best of intentions, but almost invariably it spells destruction.

What do I mean?  Well, in theory at least, when you start a new business, you do it because you have some unique element that gives you a competitive advantage somewhere or somehow.  Maybe you cater to a certain market segment, or to an age group, or a geographical area.  Maybe your product is faster but more expensive than others and you cater to customers who are not worried about spending more to get the extra performance.  Maybe your product is bigger than your competitor’s and you focus on people who want a bigger, more durable widget.  Maybe your store is closer to a certain neighborhood and you focus on building relationships with people in that area.  Whatever it is, you went into business with some sort of focus.  Over the years, that may change as market conditions change, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Giving up what made you unique, however, should never be done out of fear.

The problem in “the worst blah blah blah since the great flood” (or whatever the media pundits call it today) is that people believe what they hear and then they panic.  They start to lose their focus or worse yet, they outsource it entirely – (more…)