Daily Inspiration: Volatility & Trends – “You’ll never find your opportunity in the depths of your despair!”

“You’ll never find your opportunity in the depths of your despair!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

I’m down in Silicon Valley in California today, where I’ve got a last-minute film project with Intel and HP on what else – artificial intelligence! More to come on that project in the days to come.

But while walking around yesterday after our flight in, I was reminded of the 80s song that features the phrase “Always something there to remind me” – because it seems anywhere I go, there’s always something there to remind me! That’s certainly the case with the world’s hi-tech hotspot here in the Valley because I’ve certainly done my share of keynotes and talks in these parts over the years.

One, in particular, is the genesis of today’s quote. It involves the time when SAP and EDS – which is now part of HP – invited me down to the Valley in November 2008 to speak to a small, intimate group of CEOs and tech executives from the region. The dinner menu was sublime!

I think I had the lamb.

In any event, EDS (which is now fully part of HP), brought me in for this small, intimate dinner event to provide a reality check on the mindset that was then pervasive throughout the Valley as the recession took hold – despair and pessimism suddenly ruled the industry! You need to remember where we all found ourselves at that period – Lehman Brothers had collapsed, car companies were on the brink, banks were being bailed out as the great recession of 2008 unfolded.

In the tech sector, an immediate mindset unfolded that the downturn was going to bring a crashing halt to the success the industry had enjoyed since the dot.com collapse of 2000-2001. My mindset? I always beg to differ! Just before this dinner event, I was with the US Society of Actuaries, with an opening keynote for their annual conference, and began by putting up a bunch of scary news headlines:

• “American banks face financial meltdown if their reforms fail.”
• “Mortage Meltdown! Bloody and Bowed — Money Managers Remain Badly Shaken by the Meltdown”
• “Market Cap Meltdown — Billions in Blue Chip Stock Values Have Been Blown Away”
• “Congress caught in a bind over bank crisis”
• “Crisis Looming As Realty Slump Becomes Global”

My goal was to commiserate and share in the gloom and despair that they and others were feeling at this moment in time in 2008.  And, then, of course, I revealed that most of these headlines were from another economic downturn in 1989 and 1990, with the key point being, that we’ve been here before, are here again right now, and will be there again in the future.

I told the same story at the dinner and reminded everyone in the room that whenever there is market turmoil, there is also an opportunity for growth through innovation.  Sharing these headlines certainly made for an interesting moment with a bit of a gasp (!) from the audience, but it certainly helped to put things in perspective…..

Walking around yesterday, and reflecting on this event, my observation certainly rings true at any given time. At this moment, Silicon Valley is feeding off the steady flow of an artificial intelligence intravenous drip – it’s getting accelerated growth right into its beating heart. Opportunity is everywhere, innovation is rampant, big bold goals and big dreams are everywhere. And yet, it was only a few years ago – just at the wind-down of the pandemic –  the sector was back in a world of despair, with layoffs, restructuring, and volatility ruling every waking moment.

Despair, when one thinks about it, truly is a wasted emotion, and is not worth the mindset investment on which it is based – because at the end of every moment of despair are moments of exuberance and optimism!

Because we all know, as always, that there is always something there to remind us!