The crash in financial markets – and the following depression in the global economy as it deleverages/contracts over the coming years – will cause undoubted difficulties and hardship for very many people. The changes and challenges we are going to live through are biblical in their scale. They will affect all of us profoundly. And that makes me feel quite uneasy.
What we make of this new world will depend in large part on our individual and collective reaction. So how fantastic it is that such an inspirational and human leader has come to us at this time as the new President of the world’s most important economy. He can’t fix all the broken bits by magic, but he could make a real difference to how we think and behave.
It’s a responsibility for all of us to exercise care and tolerance if we are to protect our society. Indeed, there is a bigger opportunity now. This is to change and strengthen society’s values and collective behaviour to live and work together, with each other, in a fundamentally healthier way for generations to come.
The days of obscene salaries and bonuses are over. Greed is now bad. Instead, the symbols of achievement and value in the working environment will be around fulfilment, relationships, teamwork and, hopefully, humility. Perhaps teachers, nurses and scientists will once again be valued and respected more equally with traders and lawyers. What will your reaction to the new world be? Are you ready for change?
For me, the sense of unease around the economic outlook is more than outweighed by the excitement of playing my part in the new world values – helping to bring people together in a more accepting way; to communicate more sensitively; to notice what is important and true for themselves; and at all times to be present as an ambassador for our shared humanity.
Take care
