In “The Music Man”, one of my favorite shows, “Professor” Harold Hill, traveling salesman and con man, comes to River City, Iowa with the goal of selling the citizens on the idea of a boy’s band. He will sell them the uniforms and instruments. His “con” is that he promises to stay and lead the band once the instruments arrive, while in truth, he knows nothing about music and plans to be four states away when the instruments are delivered.
To stir up citizen enthusiasm for a band, he needs to discover something new to the city, a change that he can spin as socially troubling. He creates the perception that the new pool tables and pool hall forebodes trouble for the boys of River City, and the fun begins.
We are living in a time of rapid change, with new technologies and innovations challenging our ability to adapt; it isn’t proving to be much fun for a lot of us. Rapid economic and sociological change have been increasingly taxing our coping skills as a society for almost four decades now. The changes have affected all facets of our society.
While these changes have fostered numerous problems, they are by no means insurmountable. In fact, the problems we face today are showing us clearly that their solutions will elevate us to new levels of affluence and comfort. Warren Buffet trumpets that truth constantly.
Skeptical? Let’s look at one example. There are currently between 20 and 30 million working age males who have dropped out of the workforce. As a group, they have lost good jobs and are discouraged, or employers can’t give them the available jobs they are seeking.
At the same time, there are many millions are “mid-tech” jobs paying superior wages that employers can’t fill for lack of qualified applicants. The obvious solution is to train millions of workers to qualify for these jobs. Employers, educational institutions, the federal and state government agencies have thus far failed to come together to solve this problem. Retraining takes some time, but the failure is primarily a lack of willingness to come together, including the discouraged workers themselves, and work through the solution.
In the view of many “thought leaders” in our country, this is a problem of self-awareness and emotional intelligence. We see clients every day discover a new outlook or a more beneficial behavior that overcomes an old limiting belief, opening up new opportunities. This coaching work provides a sure path to greater personal freedom and affluence for anyone committed to doing the work.
It isn’t magic. It’s work!
People manufacturing perceptions of disaster will always be with us. It is heartening to see so many aware and awake people ignore the illusory troubles created by limiting thoughts, and live a vibrant life they know is right in front of them.
Look around. Four hundred years ago there was nothing here but trees, rocks and streams of every size. We created every marvel around us, and that creativity is expanding in us, not diminishing. Sure, we have problems – mostly of our own making – and sooner or later we will solve every single one of them.
Place yourself in a prime position to be one of the creative positive innovators in life. We need you to develop your brilliance. It requires so little effort to be a perpetual detractor and there are too many of them. As Gandhi said, “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would serve to solve most of the problems of the world’. People who develop high levels of self-awareness are the problems solvers of the world. We are ready to support you. Join in the fun!
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