Using purpose to combat cost-push inflation

Today’s inflation is being driven by the convergence of three complex and interconnected developments.

Demand exceeding supply created demand-pull inflation–too much money chasing too few goods.
Low interest rates drove fiscal and monetary policy inflation–excess federal spending leading to unexpected consumer wealth and an overpriced housing market.
The shortage of workers led to higher wages and fueled cost-push inflation–rising production costs.

The cost-push factor is often the most crushing for businesses because insufficient staffing disrupts product and service activities across every market sector, even the recession-proof ones like food and healthcare. When the impact is so broadly felt, everyone becomes someone’s consumer, and every organization is impacted.

When employees have the greater leverage, as they do in this pandemic-trailing economy, purpose and vision become lifelines to employers seeking to retain and attract the most experienced talent at affordable prices.

The only sustainable way to compete for talent is with purpose.

On recruiting, from the ‘Benefits of a vision statement’ in Chapter 5 of Businesses Don’t Fail, They Commit Suicide.

More customers and more staff are the two most common recruitment needs of most successful organizations. Any business overtly pursuing a comprehensible vision will naturally attract client and employee prospects who want to work with like-minded people and companies striving to realize their vision too.

When you share your vision in the (recruiting) process and both you and your candidate agree to engage, the candidate will see themselves as self-selecting. These are the people you want to have on board. These are the people who will be as passionate about your vision as you are.

When passion for common needs and wants exists, many of the obstacles business development must overcome melt away.

One of the downfalls of many of today’s work environments is the perceived need to drive staff, to push them rather than encouraging them to do well, the pull approach.

Giving staff objectives they understand and goals they believe in, then letting them pursue those goals and objectives within predefined boundaries and without micro-management or a ‘push at all costs’ work environment gives them a chance to exercise individual skills and succeed. Those are the things of success and sustainability.

Many of my clients come to me looking for strategic direction. Without having a vision, or clarity of purpose, you don’t have an ultimate destination. Without an ultimate destination, how can you do anything strategically?

The opportunities to be part of my clients’ journeys are how we grow and learn. As far as what the future holds, it should be clear at this point that nobody knows. Of all the things we could do to survive, I can’t tell you what’s right. I can tell you what works and get you pointed in the right direction.

Do you want the successful organization you’ve built to survive? If so, you must find your purpose and stay on track toward achieving it.

If you want to talk about your company’s purpose, email me at [email protected] or call +330658023497.

Talk to Larry. My thoughts, comments and questions

A personal pet-peeve–but, try, and irregardless

Let’s start with irregardless. If you’re OK with defining words as a combination of letters used by someone to express something, then irregardless is a word. Unfortunately, that loose definition encourages intellectual atrophy. Said another way, the dumbing down of our citizens, the root cause of all threats to our democracy IMNSHO.

According to Merriam-Webster, who recently added this non-word, word to their dictionary, “The reason we, and these dictionaries above, define irregardless is very simple: it meets our criteria for inclusion. This word has been used by a large number of people (millions) for a long time (over two hundred years) with a specific and identifiable meaning ("regardless"). The fact that it is unnecessary, as there is already a word in English with the same meaning (regardless) is not terribly important; it is not a dictionary's job to assess whether a word is necessary before defining it. The fact that the word is generally viewed as nonstandard, or as illustrative of poor education, is likewise not important; dictionaries define the breadth of the language, and not simply the elegant parts at the top.) “Is 'Irregardless' a Real Word?” Usage notes, merriam-webster, 24 July 2022.

Really? So, it's OK to put non-word words in your dictionary because a lot of uneducated people use them? Wouldn’t it be better to keep them out so when the uneducated are taught our native language they have access to a source that doesn’t embrace its incorrect usage?

OK, so, what’s my problem with trying?

First, trying has no immediacy. In fact, its definition, to attempt, implies something you haven’t done yet. Second, there’s ZERO COMMITMENT! You can try something just by thinking about it and never doing it. In other words, you can say you’re going to try forever and never do anything! WHO CARES? You either make a commitment to DO something or you don’t. Why try when you can say you’re going to work on something or endeavor to do it? If you make the commitment and fail, go back and do it again but don’t say you’ll try. Try is a stupid, lazy word.

And now for but.

Every time someone says or writes the word ‘but’, they should be fined some token amount. Not enough to cause financial harm, and enough to cause pain, like a bee sting.

Notice how you expected me to say ‘but’ in the sentence above, as in “Not enough to cause financial harm, but enough to cause …” and I didn’t, I used ‘and’, which works even though it might not sound right.

When I say “Not enough to cause financial harm, but enough to …” what I’m REALLY saying when I say ‘but’ is that it IS enough to cause financial harm. Think about it. First, I say it isn’t, then the ‘but’ means I didn’t mean what I just said. CRAZY, HUH?

And now for but, get the irony yet?

‘And’ can be used in place of ‘but’ in almost EVERY INSTANCE! Just force yourself to try it and see. It may feel unnatural at first, and (but 😉) when you realize you're suddenly saying what you mean instead of negating everything you say after you say it, you’ll start to cringe every time you hear someone say ‘but.’

Yeah, I know, I know, the English language is a bugger sometimes, but I think you know what I mean. See how my use of ‘but’ there just negated everything I said before it?

😖 (ggggrrrr!!!!!)

Ephemera – current news and updates

Businesses Don’t Fail, They Commit Suicide – the book. Update

The FOURTH Galley has been reviewed and there are STILL ERRORS! I was able to get the publisher to agree to “… have this expediated.”

You can find my Business Suicide Prevention Minute hacks on My YouTube channel.

Using purpose to combat cost-push inflation

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