Blog Post: An Attitude Of Gratitude

Thursday, November 27 th is Thanksgiving Day in America .  To me, and millions of others, it is a Day of Thanksgiving for the bounty that we have been blessed with in our country.  This day is especially important for those of us in business to celebrate, because there is so much to be thankful for.

So many people these days have an attitude of entitlement.  They believe that, just because they are breathing, they have rights to everything.  Others have an attitude of narcissistic pride.  We say that we’re proud of this and proud of that.  Frankly, this attitude of being proud of things is part of what has us in some of the trouble we’re in.  I’d like to see both the attitude of pride and the attitude of entitlement replaced with an Attitude of Gratitude.  Rather than being “proud” to be an American, I am grateful that I was blessed to be born an American…and so should we all be.  We should also be grateful to be in business in America .  Here’s why.

1).  We are free to do what is best for our businesses, for the most part.  For all the griping about government regulation that we all do, the government here leaves us pretty much alone except for those things we should be doing anyway — providing a safe and friendly work environment for our employees, hiring people based on their skills and the contents of their character rather than on race or other irrelevant traits, and paying a fair and living wage.  I, frankly, don’t mind these regulations because I would do the things the regulations call for anyway.  The fact that they’re regulated means that I won’t face a less scrupulous competitor in being ethical and moral.  And I am grateful for this.

2).  Our people are the wealthiest in the world.  Even people who are “poor” in America live a lifestyle that couldn’t even be imagined by most of the human race for most of history.  While there are, certainly, inequities and injustices that need addressing in our nation, even most of the rest of world looks at America with awe as they see someone who is “poor” driving a car, eating at McDonalds, shopping at the grocery store (even those who are food-deprived, which is a terrible thing, still eat better than over 90% of the human race has through history — and better than most people even in today’s world), and watching a TV.  Those who are in the “middle class” live a lifestyle that even the wealthiest person in the world a mere 100 years ago could not even imagine.  And I am grateful for this.

3).  We do not have restrictions on what we can sell or what services we can offer (mostly).  While there are certain agricultural products that the DEA frowns on, and certain ancient professions that are not legal to practice in our country, for the most part we sell any product or service we want.  A nation where an inventor can take a stone from his back yard, glue eyes on it, and sell it for 10 bucks as a pet, and get wealthy from it (The Pet Rock) is great indeed.  Gullible, maybe, but great!  In many other nations people are bound by class or guilds regarding what they can do.  Here, we are bound only by our ingenuity and the desires of the public.  And I am grateful for this.

4).  We are still sort-of free marketers.  Yes, I know the bailouts are not really “free market,” but in most things we still do have a free market.  A business owner here can make whatever he can squeeze out of his or business, whereas in many nations the government owns the business and tells those who work hardest in that business what they can make.  And I am grateful for this.

5).  The sky’s the limit.  Here, anyone can make any amount of money — even a socially inept nerd who was almost certainly bullied in school can become the world’s wealthiest man, marry a drop-dead gorgeous woman, and have immense international power.  As a business owner I am bound only by my intellect and ability to predict what people will like.  And I am grateful for this.

6).  We are free to go out of business (unless you’re a mega-corporation with ties to the government).  With the exception of very large corporations, we are free to go out of business.  This is actually wonderful.  It means that our competitors who aren’t as smart as we are will go by the wayside and leave us all of the best customers.  It also means that consumers can have the final vote on who deserves to serve them.  This makes American business much better, even as the wolf eating the slowest antelope makes both antelope and wolves faster.  In business, survival of the fittest is a win for almost everyone.  And I am grateful for this.

7).  We are free to be diverse.  My vision of America is one with people of all colors, lifestyles, orientations, religions, birthplaces, ages, abilities, disabilities, genders, and so on are able, together, to build a better world.  This is the only place in the world, except, perhaps, Canada , where we can do this.  Fear-based people try to stop diversity and make everyone a follower, but Americans have rejected that again and again.  Our company is very diverse, and is fantastic.  We can have companies that do everything under the sun.  And this is our strength and our competitive advantage over the rest of the world.  And I am grateful for this.

On Thanksgiving Day several of us (none of us, I think, of Italian heritage) are going to an Italian restaurant and listening to Sinatra over the loudspeakers, eating great pasta along with foods that never got near the Italian coast.  We are several races and ages, both genders, and varying religions (or no religion, in a couple of cases).  And we will sit down in this restaurant and have loving, peaceful conversation, eat enough food to feed a small village for a month, and go to homes that are heated (or, as warm as Denver has been, cooled!), with running water, indoor toilets, 2,943 channels on the cable, and cold beer in the fridge.  In much of the world different religions can’t look at each other without shooting, different races kill one another, and the genders are not allowed to mix.  In much of the world, they struggle to eat 1/20 th or less of the food we are going to waste that day.  Now, if that doesn’t make you grateful to be an American, I don’t know what help there is for you. May God bless these United States of America …and everywhere else.

John Heckers is a Career Transition and Executive Coach in Cherry Creek.  He welcomes your contact at jheckers@heckersdevgroup.com.