I was reading an interesting blog post by the hard working and very smart Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, (Editor of the Cork Independent, writer for the Sunday Business Post and regular media panellist) yesterday about signs of positivity and the earliest (Santa Claus wish list) rumblings of tax cuts.
As Deirdre pointed out this thinking might stop when poor Santa gets stuck in the chimney …in truth few of us have regular chimneys these days so like everyone else life is even complicated for him these days!
Deirdre talks about the 58,000 extra people working in Ireland in Q3 compared to Q2 and unemployment has dropped below 13%, she talks about the bottoming out and rising of house prices in Dublin (for me scarcity of supply is the best story of all – building is inevitable which means jobs) and the icing on the cake is the bailout exit.
These are all great and very concrete signs of real improvement and even the news that the State is likely to make a profit on the Bank of Ireland share issue is encouraging.
Deirdre goes on “Things seem to be improving. That’s undeniable. Over the past couple of months, business people I have spoken to have whispered that they are seeing a lift. Whispered, because it’s fragile”
When I hear Deirdre saying things like this I take huge encouragement from it – in her role at the Cork Independent she would interact closely and regularly with a cross section of businesses from all sectors and this would be a good barometer as to how things are performing “for real“.
Last week I shared in my blog post “Are things on the up at last?” our own experiences in Fuzion both in Cork and Dublin. We are witnessing a definite sea change.
Even last week we had many meetings with clients and prospects who are planning ahead for 2014 – we haven’t seen such early planning for quite some time. People are definitely feeling and most importantly behaving confidently.
Confidence and belief is half the battle – performance will follow. We need to start believing.
2014 will be a great year …instead of whispering it we need start roaring it!
#Positivity
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion
Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin
The biggest bit of ‘good news’ we’ve been hearing of late is, of course, the bailout exit. This is a bit like being one of the aforementioned young people who can’t find work. You’ve moved out of home so your parents technically can’t tell you what to do any more. But living, jobless, in their garage, has its own restrictions.
Tags: Cork Independent, Deirdre O'Shaughnessy, Fuzion PR, Greg Canty, Sunday Business Post
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
December 2, 2013 at 10:31 am |
Good that jobs are back; maybe a bit more granularity within the news would be good too, to see where jobs are back , which companies (Irish or foreign – big or start ups, etc. – Dublin or the rest, etc.), and more which level of jobs are back lower, middle upper salaries
What for entrepreneurs? Are they on the good track too?
I hope that more than roaring Irish economy will learn from the crisis that a good vision of the medium terms future is needed and a balanced one not one that rejoice for a real estate market up, but one that is able to create brands of Irish products ( and a good creative session about would be ver useful) and sell the experiences to customers in Ireland and abroad to make the economy solid in long terms too, and claiming high quality instead of cheap offers…
December 2, 2013 at 2:34 pm |
from a comment within David McWilliams blog:
“Author: CorkRob
Comment:
Exactly DORN!
I walked around Cork City at the weekend and was shocked at the number and spread of closed-down retail businesses. I tried to work out how many long term and lifetime jobs had been lost and it was huge.
If Cork city centre is a national barometer, we’re still in deep trouble.
There are occasional announcements heralded by Government about “hundreds of new jobs” being created, invariably “Over 5 years”, but most seem to be Call-centre positions on minimum wage.
A trip to CareerZoo in the National Exhibition Centre in Dublin last Spring confirmed my fears about the “Thousands of jobs on offer” – I’d guesstimate that over 90%+ were solely for “NATIVE Speaking Foreign Nationals” in Call-centres serving Eastern European & Asian markets.
Not much there for a middle-aged English Speaking Irishman with 25 years of Sales/Marketing Management experience. Try raise a family of 3 kids on €8.65/Hr.
The only option for many like me is to try and set-up your own business (Not as a “Consultant” !!!) and create your own income, but the Social welfare trap and a lack of Joined-up thinking between Government Departments hinders rather than helps.
David, you should suspend your travels to the USA/Far East/Germany and London and spend some time in “Real Ireland” and familiarise yourself again wit the realities that STILL face Middle-Ireland on a daily basis, joblessness, dropping house prices, lack of bank credit, stupid levels of governmental bureaucracy and a sense of deep frustration that those who led us here are getting away scott-free and the Government are complicit in doing nothing about it all.
Call centre jobs for Minimum Wage foreign immigrants are not and will not be the solution to our current woes and Dublin is a cocoon.”
Difficult situation to understand…
December 2, 2013 at 9:09 pm |
keep the faith Stefano – it might take a while for the improvements to filter through everywhere but with belief it will
December 2, 2013 at 10:03 pm
That’s for sure.
I am naturally positive thinking, no problem of faith.
I made a keynote in 2008 titled “Crisis? What Crisis?” explaining that it was about a change, and customer centric businesses should apply that with flexible thinking hence creativity and willingness to keep customer satisfied during different times in a different way.
That way was my suggestion on how to go through times without the negative thinking in mind.
Yet it is necessary to see reality to avoid disillusions once more, having the example of the melted Celtic Tiger.
It seems to have a country, that should have planned a higher competitive edge far beyond corporate tax reduction and real estate big bubble, a bit unbalance.
December 2, 2013 at 10:19 pm
the last few years have been good for Ireland in that we have had to concentrate on areas that will be sustainable in the long run and not just turning over property at silly prices
December 3, 2013 at 9:08 am
Good, yet signals in Dublin are that properties are up more than 10% again… I met people from a couple of industries and I had the same feeling that development is about goods and commodities more than brand and experiences values but we’ll see hoping for the best.
Sure is that in country where BMW and Rovers had a boom the rest of the life quality didn’t (supermarkets retails still close to 40% more expensive than the rat of Europe and the offer is still more stressed by compete with Discounts than offer quality values…
And the last jobs rising 58K is due to 31K self employment and the rest 27K work for employers, that means 31K people that risk what they have or what they have borrowed without welfare cover… let’s hope these “start ups” will turn well at least exceeding the average % of start ups survivals…
December 2, 2013 at 3:17 pm |
Hello Greg,
I believe the article in this link gives further credence to your post ;
http://theloadstar.co.uk/irish-trade-back-growth-celtic-tiger-emerges-austerity/
The recovery may not be of the magnitude as the article headline suggests but there definitely is an upturn of some description.
December 2, 2013 at 9:06 pm |
thanks for sharing Rudy ..another believer !
December 3, 2013 at 12:09 pm |
Hi Greg,
I’ll take the positivity a wee bit further – having watched Law of Attraction in action for the last 18 years or so – always easier to see it in other people’s lives than in your own. But LOA is a fact whether one believes in it or not. So, from my point of view we talked ourselves into this recession/depression or whatever it is – with all the forecasts, talks and warning of “It can’t last (the celtic tiger), the bubble has to burst some time. TV and ‘experts’ being the main drivers of this. Because of my attention to LOA I was able to see disaster coming as soon as that talk started.
Having talked ourselves into disaster, we can by the same token, literally talk ourselves out of it. It is important to grasp every piece and scrap of evidence that shows there is a turn around happening and shout it from the roof tops (but don’t argue it 🙂 just shout it and turn a deaf ears to the pessimists! It is correct to say that confidence and positivity goes a long, long way in this.
But, at the end of the day, the turnaround will happen just as soon as a critical mass get fed up of the negativity, fear and say – ‘What the hell! I’m fed up with all this and I am just going to spend, spend and invest where I see fit….I am going to be one of the ones to catch this turnaround on the upswing and I am going to be the next wealthy entrepreneur focused on success!
Good luck to us all! For sure I’m gonna catch the wheel on the upswing 🙂
Thanks to Deirdre for the push, and keep up the good work Greg!
December 4, 2013 at 9:56 am |
Marie – what a refreshing post. That thinking has saved me over the last few years and while it has been really tough at times we managed to grow our business, expand our team and open an office in Dublin.
Real momentum as you correctly point out is when more believe and this does start with being fed up of the negativity.
Recession …if there is one in your head hold onto it ..’cause there isn’t one in mine !!
December 4, 2013 at 12:36 am |
This reminds me of the Bothar advertisement, which enunciates all the benefits a poor family in Africa will have when they receive a farm animal, and the Goat constantly shouts, “Are we there yet!!, are we there yet!!”. The fact that there are 58,000 less on the dole, while it is to be welcomed, even if the majority of the jobs are minimum wage, is akin to seeing the cattle in the field on a promise for better things to come – but they’re not there yet. When one judges the stabilisation of the economy on the property activity in one city, and views it as a reflection of the national economy, then serious questions need to be asked about that type of economic view. If the 58,000 jobs are a projection over a 5 year period, then unemployment has not fallen below 13%, particularly when one adds the recent announcement of jobs which will be lost within the next 6 months.
Are we there yet!! are we there yet!! – we’re not even in sight of the first rung of the ladder – so keep chewing the cud for now.
December 4, 2013 at 9:53 am |
Hi Terence – I have to disagree with you. We are seeing a real “turn” and this is in many places. If we start believing confidence will return and performance will follow. If we keep thinking we are still in the shit then guess what happens?? Thanks for the feedback
December 4, 2013 at 12:30 pm |
positive thinking is excellent yet without forgetting reality…
if not it will produce more depressed people, it is similar to define objective in business, of course nothing is impossible but it takes time to get from the Apple Lisa to the Apple iPad
Having an excellent vision means to have also the right idea about what steps you can take and when and how.
People in debt will have to make a big effort to think positively (meaning that our society is based on consumption to generate capitals and they just don’t have the money to spend, we cannot tell them just to behave positively and all dreams will come through…
Good the positive whispering but with a lot of help for the one in distress first…
December 5, 2013 at 8:00 am |
Hi Stefano … acknowledging that things are starting to improve should help everyone and give hope and belief – I don’t see how the opposite can help anyone ?
December 5, 2013 at 8:28 am
I agree hope and belief are good and needed, yet respecting reality not trying to hide anything is due too, have a good day
December 5, 2013 at 10:40 pm
Hi Stefano – I am not trying to hide anything. I choose to take hope from the plenty of positive signs and am encouraging people to believe and start behaving in a confident manner. It’s only when this happens that we will get great momentum, which will be good for everyone.
December 5, 2013 at 1:07 pm |
Greg, you should post a blog about this http://sy.pe/TQzzc it should help to restore beliefs and hope
June 14, 2014 at 8:30 pm |
xtrf.zendesk.com
Start believing, stop whispering | Greg Canty Fuzion Blog