Long Covid Is more than the very real affliction that has affected so many people. It seems still to affect many areas of business and the economy. However, it seems many people have forgotten all about it. Forgotten its devastating effect on the economy. The billions of accumulated debt, with the UK for instance, owing a sum nearly equal to its GDP.
All was forgotten with the war in Ukraine taking centre stage. But now even this devastating war has slipped from the front pages with the distraction of the quite pathetic protestations of politicians. A new Prime Minister for the U.K. who has not been chosen by the people, has little gravitas, no majority support and yet facing enormous challenges.
So far, her response and that of her new team seems to be to borrow even more money to bail out an energy crisis. Spiralling interest rates and cost of living are hoped to fix themselves. The jury is out on all of that.
Some time ago a very smart friend of mine said that he felt senior business executives would be better at running the country as they were realistically running the economy anyway. I disagreed with him then but now I am not so sure. I disagreed then as they would be unelected by the people.
The current crop of politicians throughout Europe and the USA seems particularly poor.
The ones with intellect and who get things done end up sidelined by, well, politics.
The system is broken; it is not working. But what to replace it with and who will lead the change? A revolution would be unhelpful but in some quarters perhaps not surprising. More importantly, we need people with vision who can demonstrate real leadership.
Currently, I think the local cub scout pack could do a better job than Liz Truss and her inexperienced, unimpressive bunch.
So maybe my friend was right. Let business leaders have a go. They are already paid well by their companies and sure, they would look after the interests of their businesses, but presumably, that would lead to a thriving economy and balance of payments. That would be the bedrock to build on. They couldn’t do a worse job than politicians anyway.
Uncommon Thinking to Deliver Common Sense - it’s a strapline we use in our consulting business. We also use a pack of Mental Models when creating solutions and opportunities for clients, mainly in the sports industry.
We have worked with governments and politicians. I mostly have found them low calibre thinkers and focussed on getting re-elected to hold on to power rather than dealing with the issues that matter. It’s the system that is as much at fault as the politicians. But one wonders exactly how they dream up schemes in 10 Downing Street and who has the actual input. Is it the civil servants, the gangs of special advisers, or lobbyists, just who does what and how?
Wouldn’t it be great to have a fly-on-the-wall documentary series? Warts and all so we could all see the machinations of politics. Of course, they won’t allow that as it would expose the incompetence and hypocrisy of a system failing the people and the nation.
Who would produce it? The media have demonstrated incredible bias and self-interest let alone arrogance in recent years. They have harried Boris Johnson from his post as Prime Minister because the media ‘elite’ didn’t like him. They have pushed their bias and opinions with such ferocity that they have lost all credibility.
We are ill-served by a political class and the media, but most importantly the current system is not fit for purpose.
I think I will commission Rushmans to work out a new system and workshop on the possibilities. They will research widely, run it through all the ‘Thinking Models’ then workshop with the most brilliant minds and deliver solutions for the challenges and opportunities.
Maybe it will be the local cub scouts after all.