WF 360 at the NYSE

November 21, 2008

Once again I was amazed at how lucky I am to be included in gatherings of amazing individuals.  Tonight it was a cocktail on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (after it closed of course ☺ ) and a dinner upstairs in the dining room.  The building and location were amazing but the people and the conversation is what really blew me away … again. Susan Bird is the organizer of this event and has an uncanny way of pulling together people.  I was a speaker at the very first event nine years ago.  At that time there was another speaker who at the time was the wife of the President.  That would be Hillary Clinton.  It is amazing how life goes in circles.    Last year Anne Lauvergeon, the CEO of AREVA was here. 

Tonight’s conversations were centered around the question;  “What if?”  Considering the state of the markets may of our “What if  questions” are focusing on the negative.  What if the market continues down like it is?  What if I loose my job, house, family?  What if I don’t have enough to eat?  But it is also a time to ask the drastically POSITIVE questions as well.  Some examples:

What if we created a volunteer army that only concentrated on rebuilding poorer areas in our own country in green and sustainable ways.  (a ‘new deal’ gone green)  How would / should business participate?   What if there were no private schools would this make public schools better?  What if you knew that the economic slump would last for 24 months.  What would you/your business do differently today?  What if we made healthcare completely free market?  What if each person took full responsibility for their own life including healthy personal choices?   What if  each individual committed to contribute two times more to society than they received?

Now is the time to not be afraid, but to reach for the new boundaries and to get there with hard work and common sense… a mix of ‘fantasy and reality’.