The “Barely” Syndrome

Driving around the rural communities and towns where I live, main streets and businesses are trying to open as best as they can. Help wanted signs are taped to windows and doors, signs are placed in the ground coming into the towns, and the internet is ripe with job postings. Many stating increased wages and benefits, but there are no takers to good jobs in the cafes and diners, small boutiques, the small town factories and other places. These small businesses have managed to stay open during the past 18 months with little staff and are ready to bring things back toward normal. But they can not do this without staff to fill the many jobs they have open. They are barely making it.

The current US unemployment rate is just below 6% and the states are averaging as low as 4% in some states and as high as almost 9% in others. It appears there are plenty of jobs in any industry or state one desires. But the applicants are not being attracted back to the employment roles. Complicating matters are the federal and state unemployment programs that offer additional unemployment funds which make staying unemployed more lucrative that working a full-time job. With stimulus monies being paid over the past year, and more being discussed, coupled with other federal programs, it is easy to see why people are staying away from the workforce.

Conversations with many managers and human resource (HR) professionals reveal the same sad story. Many stores are having to shorten business hours because of labor shortages. Many small diners are raising prices of the meals to cover the new minimum wage laws meant to bring workers back and the overtime of their current workers who are required to work when they do not materialize.

The US economy is driven by the work of its citizens, who innovate new products, build those new products, sell the products and the cycle starts again. It is a circular economy, for each product that is built another has to be built to take its place. Think of car and the thousands, if not millions, of parts it takes to assemble and the thousands of humans that process takes. From the end product of the car to each transmission, gallon of paint, tires, etc., each of those products have to be replaced for use on another car. It is a trickle-down supply chain system with the human workforce involved in each step. Any interruption of the physical materials or the human workforces causes the economic system to come to a crashing halt.

As the physical material levels are fast returning to a normal state, the human workforce is not because there is no need. The need to work must be restarted, or perhaps reinvented, to bring the economy back to as close to normal as possible. While the return to normal may take time and a new normal may be realized in the process, it must restart.

“A human is the catalyst for all things.”

David Lawson

Dr. Lawson is an executive coach and a Professor of Economics and Strategy. He writes on business issues, education, and developing today’s modern executives. He can be found on Twitter @dplwsn and #TMIBS.

@Copyright 2021

The Many Faces of Entrepreneurship

Walking around small town America’s main street, you will pass the town diner filled with customers talking and enjoying a late breakfast, the banker chatting with the folks he passes, the florist, the pharmacy, the bakery and coffee shop inviting you in through an open door, the auto repair shop coming into town, the ice cream parlor, and many other small businesses that make the town what it is…home. Many of these small business started with a dream or a need the town needs filled, and with hard work and community support they have become successful.

Small town America is a showcase of entrepreneurship, people who have a dream, took the risk, and made their dream a reality. As a result, they have touched the lives of many people. From the people they serve each day, to the people who work there, all the while making the town a better place. If it were not for the entrepreneurs many small town would cease to exist.

While teaching a course on entrepreneurship, it seemed strange that the focus was on launching the next great technology company, the next pharmaceutical company, a new version of alternative energy, all worth worthy endeavours. A stranger observation was the need for a business plan and a small business (SBA) loan in order to get started. Many of today’s successes did not start with the luxury of a SBA loan or a business plan, eg. Apple Computer started famously in a garage is a great example. It is a safe bet that many businesses on small town main street did not get a boost from the SBA, just hard work, maybe some local investors who believed in them, and the community.

Small town America has many faces. They have weathered economic downturns, the loss of once stable local industries such as coal, etc., the pandemic that required many to close, and yet they survive to live another day. A SBA loan is a short term solution to the long-term problem of how does a small business in business.

Walk down the main street of America’s small towns and look it’s many faces. Those who had a dream, took the risk, and opened the door to their business. A longer look will give a glimpse into the impact that their business has on the community, the people who frequent their shops every day, and the people who work there.

Small town America is where many businesses got their start and where the next generation of great businesses and entrepreneurs will begin!

Dr. Lawson is an executive coach and a Professor of Economics and Strategy. He writes on business issues, education, and developing today’s modern executives. He can be found on Twitter @dplwsn and #TMIBS.

What Did We Really Learn?

While businesses are returning to a “normal” state of operation, the question of what exactly “normal” means is being debated. Many believe that “normal” means business as it was before the pandemic producing and selling the same products hoping customer will return. Returning to the status quo that was comfortable, predictable, and profitable.

Others view the present conditions as the “new normal”. They view the pandemic as a black swan event that has induced significant change and returning to the status quo as impossible. They are introducing new products, modifying existing products, eliminating the odd products that do not fit in their portfolio, and streamlining for the future.

The question of learning from a impactful global event is something all companies, in all industries, large or small should take seriously. Can a company return to the status quo? No, the changes induced are too deep and permanent. The changes from the past year will only bring additional changes. Marshall Goldsmith famously wrote that “what got you here won’t get you there”. Clinging to the status quo of the old normal will leave companies constantly searching for answers on how to survive.

For those companies who accept the forced change as a time to learn about themselves, their products, and the new normal will quickly move ahead by streamlining and looking toward the future. Companies that understand the current normal is the new normal, seek to learn what the new normal means and search for new opportunities.

Learning is always difficult, filled with false starts with successes sprinkled in. The learning process starts with unlearning what was once successful, the status quo, and embracing new ideas, technologies, and developing new theories…thinking differently. A great example is education, once the domain of books, in-person classes, and physical facilities and buildings. Books are now available electronically, classes are delivered digitally eliminating the need for physical interactions and buildings.

At companies, large and small, move toward the future, the question can honestly be asked, “What have we learned?”

Dr. Lawson is an executive coach and a Professor of Economics and Strategy. He writes on business issues, education, and developing today’s modern executives. He can be found on Twitter @dplwsn and #TMIBS.