Reading today’s Irish times, Michael O Regan’s piece about Mary Robinson’s speech at the annual commemoration of the death of Michael Collins really stood out for me.

“Mrs Robinson believes we need “a vision of ourselves” and “the lack of one lies at the heart of the crises we face. We need to listen to everyone who has something to contribute; yes the business sector and the financial experts, but also the social entrepreneurs and innovators, the teachers who educate our children, social workers and activists … and those who have been marginalised in the past. We should also listen to our creative artists”

It is well worth a read and got me thinking.

Mary Robinson is entirely right, crisis creates opportunity. This is applicable to us as individuals, as business owners and collectively as a society and a country.

It is our ability to take this opportunity that ultimately decides our effectiveness in dealing with a crisis.

It could easily be argued that a crisis actually creates even more opportunity, because it forces us to look at a problem in entirely new ways. We will hopefully endeavour to find new solutions to old problems.

So what if, we decided to look upon these same problems as a blessing rather than a curse?

What if we decided to focus on the opportunity rather than the problem?

What impact might that have on how we would go about solving these problems?

And would the solutions that we find be the same as the ones we are finding now?

Isn’t it a least worth some thought?

“THE ECONOMY will shrink by 8.3 per cent this year and contract by a further 3 per cent in 2010, when unemployment will peak at “15 per cent plus”, according to the latest projections from the Central Bank”

(click Times logo for story)

Reading this headline, you could be forgiven for thinking what next?

But maybe you shouldn’t. Perhaps the greatest damage that has being done is not to our economy, but to our thinking.

Ireland was, is and will continue to be an open economy. For a while, we allowed a situation to develop where this reality was turned on its head, and now allied with a world recession; we find ourselves up the s#@ter without a paddle.

For our collective troubles, we made sure to leave ourselves with a uniquely Irish mess.

• A spectacular banking crisis
• A bloated and inefficient public sector
• A tremendous high cost base.

Now wait for it, we find that our recovery is tied right back to where we started. In our ability to become a successful open economy once again - TRUE: Yes, EASY: No.

High cost base + open economy = competitive?

1+1 = 3

OK, so we won’t need a rocket scientist then, thank God. So while our problems might be big, they also pretty darn obvious. Now here is where the simplicity of my argument ends.

Unique problems call for creative solutions, right?

Seeing as we allowed such a downrightly stupid situation to evolve, what does this say about our recent track record with being creative?

Frankly, it sucks.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I hear a lot of talk about making hard decisions; but shouldn’t these hard decisions have being part of last year’s news?

Isn’t a hard decision where one is required to make a great choice? Isn’t one that requires foresight rather hindsight? Isn’t one when others struggle with the logic? Isn’t a hard decision one, where grasping the need for such an action is not easily understood?

Surely, hard decisions are made in times when they are difficult to sell rather than by the seat of one’s pance.

Someone please tell me, has HARD become the new OBVIOUS?

Anyway what are required now are not hard decisions, because that ship has sailed, Right?

Here’s a thought, maybe what we really need now is GREAT decisions. Now is surely the time when we most need to employ our creativity, our imagination, and our flair.

So how come then, that it seems to be taking us so long to cop on? How come our preoccupation is with hard rather than great decisions? Might the final legacy of the boom be in how it has dulled our decision making and our creativity?

Let’s look at some of the evidence.

Historically speaking, Celtic Tiger Ireland was a time when making decisions in Ireland was perceived to be at their easiest. Will I buy this car or that car? Will we spend money on this road or that building? Of course we now know that it was a time when a great many of our decisions were at their very worst.

So then, let me ask you again, has the Celtic Tiger really gone? Or perhaps could it still remain, buried deep within our collective psyche? Does it continue to eat away at our creativity, our imagination, our ingenuity and our ability to be innovative around the decisions we now face.

So has the Celtic Tiger really gone, and even if it has, please say it hasn’t eaten all our saints and scholars.

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