Michelle Rodger: Adopt a can-do mindset to help banish gloom

Published on Saturday 21 February 2009 12:47

WHEN Baroness Shriti Vadera hinted at green shoots of recovery in the economy, she was mocked from all corners. Her gentle optimism was regarded by the Opposition as evidence of her lack of experience and inability to handle the weighty job as Brown's business minister.

But since then, and particularly over the last week, there have been a number of positive announcements that have stood out from all the bad news.

The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of transporting raw materials by sea and is considered as a bellwether figure, has doubled in value over the past three months. The Halifax says house prices increased in January. And the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says new buyer enquiries have risen for the last three months.

According to Lord Digby Jones, house builders and builders' merchants he has spoken to have started to see movement at the bottom end of the market. The levelling out in certain sectors, he says, could kick-start a lot of things.

KFC will take on 9,000 employees over the next three to five years. Morrisons is creating 5,000 jobs. Jurys Inns is taking on 300 more staff. And insurance company esure announced a major expansion of the firm's Glasgow office with 500 jobs over the next five years. Peter Wood said the "can-do ethic" makes it a perfect place to do business.

Can-do attitude? In Scotland? Aye right. Two negatives make a positive, but only in Scotland do two positives make a negative.

I always believed optimism to be an alien concept north of the border, but research shows that Wood has got the Scots pegged accurately: Glasgow is the 10th most optimistic in a survey of 75 major European cities.

Now, I suspect this Glaswegian optimism is actually based on the premise that they believe things couldn't possibly get any worse. It's the whole glass half full, half empty philosophy; although I do believe that's more to do with what's in your glass than how much of it you have drunk. I mean, you'd be much happier having quaffed a singularly spectacular Sancerre or an outstanding malt than if you'd just glugged down a bottle of Buckfast.

But optimism in the workplace – la Baroness Vadera – is clearly going to be essential if businesses are to ride the storm and come out stronger and better placed to take advantage of growth opportunities when it's all over.

Scots recruitment entrepreneur Nick Price held an event in central London recently and invited some of the country's top businesspeople. The topic for discussion? Optimism and how to trade positively through the recession.

The event, which saw the sharing of ideas and examples of how large and small companies are driving improvement and encouraging people to fight their way back from the current economic challenges, has been hailed as "pivotal" in shaping the mindset for 2009. There have been suggestions that the event should be repeated in Scotland.

Consultant Philip Atkinson, who gave a short talk at the event, warned that businesses were in trouble if they failed to recognise the importance of optimism and a positive mindset over the next 12 months. He firmly believes that the financial injection into the banks and the economy isn't enough. Without people with vision and verve, Atkinson says, "we are screwed big time".

Like Atkinson, Price, a seasoned entrepreneur of 22 years who has survived the past three downturns, is an advocate for passion and optimism in business. He says businessmen and women need to change their mindset and believe that there will still be life after this recession. Otherwise, he says, their businesses will just fade away.

Fifty people from some of the largest companies in the world turned up at his event, all feeling unsure about their own and their companies' futures, says Price. Bringing them together and sharing ideas, suggestions and experiences addressed that lack of optimism.

The same needs to happen across Scotland. Price sees the opportunity in Scotland and the talented people who live and work here. We just have to learn to shout about it louder and further afield, he says.

The experts agree. Carol Craig says Scots have a tendency to distrust good things and look for the downside rather than aim for the stars. As the chief executive of Scotland's Centre for Confidence and Well-being and author of The Scots' Crisis Of Confidence, Craig urges "cautious optimism".

She says businesses need to find a middle course somewhere between the Pollyanna-like, unrealistic, throw-all-caution-to-the-wind approach, and the view that there's no point in trying because we're all doomed.

It's all about balance and perspective. Craig met an American businessman recently who summed it up nicely when he said that Americans are all sizzle and no bacon, but Scots are all bacon and no sizzle.

Scotland is widely recognised as having a talented workforce and great indigenous businesses, we just need to believe in ourselves, and build on that with optimism and confidence for the future.