Human Potential Blog

Here’s an interesting – and scary – quote from a recent news article:

“Iceland’s krona was yesterday essentially untradeable and its value was impossible to calculate.”

Wow!  An entire country’s economy, and everyone in it, completely cut off from the rest of the World.  Untradeable currency = untradeable goods = no services, support, or help either.  Something that as recently as 4 weeks ago was completely unimaginable.  In the modern world, we are more dependent on each other than every before.

What does this mean?

Well, I don’t believe we’re going to see too many examples like Iceland’s implosion.  At least, I sincerely hope not! And that’s the reason I’m optimistic: the decision-makers around the World are so afraid of the impact of a complete meltdown and subsequent disintegration, that they will move quickly to restore stability.  Of course, there will be winners and losers in the process, but I do believe that the situation is so serious that agreement will quickly be reached about what to do about it.  In a crisis, a fast decision is better than no decision, and as a result there will be fewer losers.

But it is a good time to reflect on how we can maximise our potential.  Today, more than ever, the answer to the question “who or what can I rely on?” is more clear than ever: focus on your strengths.  Your strengths include your own strengths, and they also include the relationships you have with other people’s strengths.

Clearly, interrelationships are important.  Equally clearly, relying too much on others to provide for us is a mistake, and being self-sufficient and fully aware of our own abilities is also important.