‘Bring my jet around to the front,’ they all said, ‘and don’t worry about a plan of action. Begging is very straight forward, going forward.’ They gave me new meaning to the nursery rhyme, ‘Three Blind Mice’.
This ‘attitude of arrogance’ is prevalent in many areas of political, business, union and sporting leaderships. And, if we’re talking ‘obscene’ payments, try screen actors, sportspeople and ‘celebrities’, who contribute what, exactly?
Then there was AIG, hosting a lavish bash for ‘top performers’ (who?) just days after a US$85 billion bailout package. Companies continue recruiting people from Foofooland, whose best credentials are knowing when to nod.
Compare that to the ‘sporting attitude’ of 26,000 marvellous folks at the exciting All Black-Munster ‘re-match’ at the brand new Thomond Park stadium. For each kick at goal, there was absolute silence, to the point of being eerie. I was moved to pen a limerick…
On one occasion, the usual pickled village idiot called out. He was immediately shushed by the crowd. Stunning stuff. But, incomparable in the ‘stunning stuff’ stakes, were our mighty Rugby League Kiwis who totally outclassed perennial winners Australia, to snatch the World Cup.
Having been involved with coaching legend Graham Lowe and the Kiwis during my time as the National Events Manager for Lion Breweries, I cheered with embarrassing gusto as a simple ‘we can attitude’ triumphed uber alles. Then there was the ‘tantrum attitude’ of the runners-up…
Our General Election exposed ‘power attitudes’ from the key players. One was upbeat, confident and smiling, while the other was grumpy, desperate and vindictive. You’ll remember who was who. While we’re mentioning ‘grumpy’, let’s talk ‘economy’. What economy!
An economics professor said that, ‘ I regularly hear the accusation that, economic forecasting is no better than weather forecasting, but this does a disservice to weather forecaster’ Where were these financial whiz kids as finance houses pandered to consumeritis, greed and living beyond our means?
The ‘gimme now attitude’ was encouraged to the point of religious fervour. You could actually get 100% mortgages and repay schemes that drifted so far into the future, that your great grand-children would make the first repayment on your six-mile wide TV screen.
So, here are my seven guidelines for 2009. (01) Don’t live beyond your means. (02) Pay yourself first. (03) Network with purpose. (04) Work hard for a change. (05) Make yourself indispensable. (06) Actually plan your future. Unbelievable, I know. (07) Choose to make 2009 your best year yet.
In the previous B2B I invited you to submit your Kiwi Dream. The best effort would attend my T3PS course (where we teach ‘attitude’). True to form, exactly TWO bothered. They have both been invited. Your attitude wasn’t ‘who cares!’ or ‘whatever!’ (if you’re a youngie), was it? Oh. It was.
The New Zealand Herald reported that 34,600 Kiwis left for Australia in October. 33,900 in September. The equivalent of the township of Gisborne in just 30 days. What’s my attitude to that? I’m still living in Utopia. Beat that! I’ll see you in 2009, because my attitude always is… ‘I can, until I can’t!’ Cheers.
