Failure Is An Option- Changing the psyche of Irish business

As we look around at the successes of the modern world we live in, you may be forgiven for thinking that the human race has been exceptionally successful. The microchip, automobiles, phones, computers, electricity, the whole progression of the human race has been built upon it’s successes. Well actually no it hasn’t, we are here because of our ability to build upon failures and using reason to make sure failure doesn’t happen again. This is the story of the world we see around us today.  Failure built our world. 

So it is in business. In Ireland we seem to think upon failure as an expression of the person. The business failed because the person running the business is a failure. They didn’t think of that silver bullet that kept them afloat or turned their company around. Our bankruptcy laws are testiment to this fact; it now takes twleve years to be realeased from the bracket of bankruptcy. Our banks (whats left of them) tend to frown upon those who have shown business failure by looking at how they have failed, but never ask ‘So you failed in your last business venture, but what did you learn from it?’. When we view failure in this country we see as a stick to beat people with, instead what we should be doing is asking what they have learned and in turn learn from them.

In the USA the bankruptcy laws are designed to ensure quick turn around from failure to success for entrepreneurs (not dodgy bankers wanting to escape the wrath of an Irish public and pay back the people he worked for!). To have a company that has failed before has become a badge of honor, a item to say look what I did before, I have learned from my failure. In Ireland we need to change our thinking about failure in business. We have it built into our psyche that to fail is to be a failure yourself. This is not true, nor should we endorse such an idea. To fail is to learn and we must treat it as such. 

When I embarked out on my voyage of discovery with our magazine I had all the ideas in the world and of course they were all going to work! We were going to create the best business magazine in Ireland, get it on every shelf and give small business something that was just for them. But it didn't work out that way and I failed. But with that failure came a greater desire for success. I took the what I had done wrong and began to move it with. Now we are launching a brand new website dedicated to SMEs with a podcast, news and information, specialised articles and within a few months videos. I don’t mind telling you that I failed because I can also tell you why I failed...I didn’t listen to the failures before me. If your business is failing or you have failed ask yourself what you have learned and soon you’ll realise your 'failure' has become your biggest asset.

 Irish business needs to begin to change it’s attitude towards failure and needs to realise that Failure is an option. 

Social Media- It's About Community

The power of social media has been apparent for sometime now; It’s power to circumvent ridiculous gagging orders, It’s power to highlight the plight of nations and its power to bring a group of people together in common cause. This week I was privileged to witness first hand the power of social media.

Early in the morning we got chatting with Debbie from Tus Nua Designs about the plight of the small business community in Ireland. Feeling inspired and empowered Debbie decided that the SME community in Ireland needed a place to go on Twitter where they could talk easily to other small business people. Soon we were joined by Olwen Dawe from Irish Business Intelligence who shared our enthusiasms for helping the small business community. Armed with our hashtag (#SMEcommunity) we went out into the world of twitter to raise Irish small business into the spotlight. Before we knew what we had, small business people from across the country were joining in. They voiced concerns, showed support to small business, shared news and information useful to the SME community. A few hours later and #SMEcommunity was the number one trending item in Ireland. 

You see the thing about social media is that it’s a community of people. In this case it was small business people talking and showing the passion that they had for what they did.  The SME community in Ireland is one that fills this writer with a great sense of positivity. While the problems of SMEs have been quite evident in recent time (6 firms a day closing their doors forever on average), we must believe that we are going to survive and thrive. Although at times we feel that the world is coming down on top of us, we must not believe that we are alone. The SME community is out there waiting to listen, to help, to talk, to support and to encourage. We are all part of the same community and together we are showing that many people can have one voice. 

Together we can get Irish business moving in the right direction and will continue to be the shoulders on which our economy rests.

When your tweeting make sure you add #SMEcommunity or #YeSMEcan to your tweets to show support with or to talk to, the Irish SME community. 

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A Massive thank-you to Olwen from Irish Business Intelligence and Debbie from Tus Nua Designs for helping to create #SMEcommunity

New SME Advisory Group Launched

John Perry TD

The first meeting of the Small Business Advisory Group designed to act as a conduit between the Government and small business got underway this morning.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended the meeting, which is chaired by the Minister For Small Business, John Perry.

The Minister for Small Business, John Perry said that "it is vitally important that as a Government we communicate what we are doing and that we hear close hand what issues need to be addressed more urgently and what measures can be considered to further support small business."

Minister Perry said that the Small Business Advisory Group would be working against the backdrop of the most difficult challenge ever confronted by this State in relation to the position of the public finances. "Any initiatives developed must have regard to what is deliverable in this context."

The broad terms of reference for the Small Business Advisory Group are to facilitate structured and regular dialogue between the Minister for Small Business and representatives of the small business sector on issues of concern to that sector on how to promote the economic development and job potential of the sector having regard to the current restraints imposed on the national finances and to recommend action points and follow up.

The Group is not being required to issue any report.

The Director of the Small Firms Association, Patricia Callan, welcomed today's launch of the Small Business Advisory Group. 

Group will advise SMEs

"Through the establishment of the Group, the Government have recognised the critical role that small firms play in the Irish economy and this forum will focus on the key concerns for small firms and ensure that the correct environment is created that will support them," Callan said. 

While recognising the financial constraints that the Government is operating under, Callan said it was essential that they continued to focus on where there will be a direct return on investment and that is through supporting small businesses in retaining jobs. 

"We need to ensure that the competitive environment is urgently created to allow small Irish firms compete, through tackling Government controlled costs such as electricity and other energy costs, local authority charges, regulatory burden and waste/water charges."

Teach A Man To Fish

With all the talk of bailouts from Ireland to Greece one thing has been abundantly clear, the people at the big boys table want their money back. Of course like any ‘good’ lender the ECB is keen to recoup its monies, but at what cost. The bigger, more financially secure, members of the EU have struggled to come to terms with the fallout of the biggest economic crisis in world history. Like a slighted lover  revenge seems to choke the air and daggers have been seen to flash under the robes of many discontented member states. Through all of the troubles of recent times Europe has remained fixed to its position that countries must take responsibility for their actions and begin to make reparations. What Europe fails to see properly is the plight of the countries involved and its own role the cause of the debacle.

The Bigger Picture

What Europe needs to understand is that its not payback time, its pro-active time. The solutions to the problem do not lie simply in asking for their money back. It must give countries an opportunity to prosper and grow and not simply to survive. If countries cannot be progressive then it stands to reason that the bailouts will not be worth the paper they are printed on.  Helping (or teaching) countries to be more competitive in the global economy by treating them like a business. Create a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to understand where the countries must go to create jobs, increase lending to SMEs and compete with bigger neighboring countries.  But with the onset of new sense of country protectionism this is unlikely to happen and it will cause irreparable damage to the future of the union and the euro.

A Union Fractured

When things were going well and money was pouring into every facet of European life, we were all friends. A pat on the back for Ireland doing so well and a sense of self satisfaction that Europe was at the forefront of a new economic utopia sweeping the world. Every country was buoyed by the prospect future of easy money and good living. However, when the seams began to rip apart countries went into self preservation mode. Like Judas at the last supper old friends claimed they never knew each other. Suddenly with bonds broken, countries fell back to their own borders to await the inevitable fallout and soon the union looked fractured and broken. Now instead of France and Germany been seen as part of the answer, they are seen as part of the problem. French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s adamant conviction that Ireland must relinquish its 12.5% corporation tax in order to get a better deal on our bailout, is proof of that point. Old anxieties have arisen to show up cracks that were paper over by financial prosperity. 

Taking Responsibility

You may or may not have seen the exchange of words between Manuel Barroso and Joe Higgins, where Higgins challenged Barroso on the fact that the EU and the ECB had not taken enough responsibility. Mr. Barroso did not take to kindly to this suggestion and insisted that Ireland's problems were of her own making:

The EU and IMFs inability to look back and take a certain amount of responsibility for the happenings over the past number years will cost it dear. Its time to admit that they got it wrong and that they are continuing to do so. Lending out more money to stem the tide caused by lending is an idea that could have only been cooked up by an entity in denial. The same entity that said it was good to borrow, borrow, borrow now allows itself to believe it had nothing to with the crisis and sits patiently with its head in the sand, unable to hear the can being kicked down the road.

Teach a Man To Fish

What the EU needs is new direction and a new way of thinking.  This thinking must involve working with countries to build an economic future which is good for them and the EU. A new way of thinking needs to be present that doesn’t involve ideas that seem to have come from an economics undergraduate; Sack public sector workers, increase taxes and make cuts to your vital services.  While on the outside those suggestions seem like good beginner solutions, the real problem is still left to wallow. Where will these countries produce jobs and begin to build an economy fit for purpose. In recent months we have seen a air of positivity sweep into Ireland. We are still in dark days but rays of light are beginning to poke through the clouds. We are coming up with solutions to solve our economic problems, while the ECB stands holding the bill.  Our ideas, our initiatives, our schemes and our SMEs are creating solutions.

Maybe the EU/ECB could learn a thing or two from us: Teach a man debt and that's all you’ll get, Teach a man to fish and he’ll bring you financial stability.