A Reflection on 366 days

The dawn of the year

This year is expected to be important in several fronts already known. By the third day we already know of many developments not foreseen: From the domestic militia taking over federal facilities in Oregon, to the assassination of the Mayor of Temixco, Mexico one day after taking office, to the breakup in relationships between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to the 6.7 earthquake in the north of India, this year is starting with its own list of shocking news.

The year that starts for the USA

Of course domestically, the attention is set on the November election and rightfully so. The country has been moving slowly but in the right direction in economic terms. Unemployment is reported at rates slightly under 5%, the cost of Health Care is reported to grow in 2015 at the slowest rate since 1961, the Dow Jones index has recovered since October to a healthy 17,500 average and the NasdaQ to an average of 5,000. Progress, although neither metric where I would like to see them, the next president could accelerate or reverse these trends.

Very concerning news come from the security front. How to address international threats like the IS as well as domestic  ones like the San Bernardino shooting is a complex matter and I distrust any candidate who simplifies it to a couple of “tough” policies. It will require lots of intelligence gathering, experience and vision.

In the policies front, given the age of the Supreme Court Justices, the next president could name between 1 and 4 new Justices. Considering that a great number of rulings have been decided by 5-4 vote, it represents the potential of a significant change for many years to come.

The Business Front

Within all this potential for change, businesses can adopt one of three strategies, the wait and see strategy, the consolidation/merger to increase market and reduce competition, or the improvement of its internal operations.

I learned many years ago, that the best time for acquiring new skills, for improving one self, is during the gray areas where the future is not clear. New abilities will be valued and new capabilities will be required. So I would recommend improving internally as the first alternative, consolidation/merger as the second and I would not recommend wait and see at all.

Internal training from organizations like APICS, the PMI and the different schools that teach Six Sigma is a way to boost the ability of personnel to prepare for the future.

Consulting services that seriously look into an organization’s Value Chain to detect where they generate value for their customers to generate healthy growth is a must.