I pulled this from one of those investment blogs I read. Most times it is just stuff to read, digest and hope you learn a little, about stocks, trading, or something… but this is hitting a sore spot with me. Read on and I will comment at the end.
“1) What have you done for me lately?
Should we blame the political system for the downfall of Wall Street? Wall Street has increasingly become a place of “what have you done for me lately”. The advent of the day trader and the hedge fund simply represent this incredible shift towards short-term thinking. Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street has evolved into “Mad Money” and “Fast Money”. But where does this change in psychology come from? Is it the politicians who are running for re-election seemingly every day? Is it simply the information age and a case of wanting everything sooner rather than later? I don’t know. But politically, this is a disastrous change. How can we get back on track towards a sustainable recovery when every policy measure we implement appears to be an attempt to fix some short-term problem that just happens to coincide with an election? I can handle the advent of the short-term trader (in fact I prefer it), but no one in Congress thinks of the long-term anymore and that’s a scary fact.” This from Pragmatic Capitalism.
I know his intent is to focus on Politics and Wall Street (well maybe also the Mass Media) but this goes so much deeper today. Look at the big organizations and companies. How many of you see monthly, weekly and yearly statements or reminders that your company has a “Long Term Plan”? We all have mission statements, we all have goals, we all have this string or “words = flavor-of-the-month statements, ” along with being reminded of it often. Some of those plans are said to be 3 years or 5 years but in reality, and really be honest here, Don’t they all simply work on the short term (usually 30 days) profit and loss statements?
Look deep (maybe the last 15 years) into your companies past and see, what ever lasted long enough to be measured on whether it worked or not before there was another change, either in management, plan, goals, people, etc. I know in my company just as soon as you think you know what your are really supposed to be doing, or you get the organization set so it will work smooth, a top manager changes it to fit his new goal or “flavor-of-the-month” program. We have been bombarded with “habits”, “focus”, “goals”, “improvement initiatives”, cute sayings and other STUFF! until we are sick and don’t care or we are sheep following the bell. I know, as I am a technology follower, that things are changing fast and they get faster every year, but just like Ferris Bueller “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I think maybe we need to stop and look around cause we are missing things here. – WD0AJG