Is Santa Clause Really on His Way

This is the time of year when we wistfully look for Santa’s elves, signs of reindeer in the yard, snow in Houston…well our white semi blanket of the earliest snow in our city’s history created childlike wonder as very grown adults stood at windows or even braved Houston’s version of a Yankee blizzard staring at the white corn flakes floating from the sky.

It was just the first of 3 magical moments of the season. The other two came from the Houston Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal with special gifts of what is hopefully in store in the not so distant future. I have been waiting for the mainstream media to officially signal that we have reached an economic turn, not just looking out the window in hopes that our economy is improving. The attitude of the business community is what truly drives the employment condition of our local and national economies. While still mired in fear, business leaders will constrict staff to the barest of bones levels as a solution to soft financial figures as well as to serve as an oar in navigating their perception of an economic storm.

Over the past few months articles have been posted on a recovery in 2010 with possible easing circumstances as early as second or third quarter. This still keeps us only looking out the window waiting for Santa’s elves to let us know it is safe to reach forward again.

On Tuesday I was ecstatic to see the Houston Business Journal report that “Economic activity will improve in the first half of 2010, and by year’s end, Houston will have a net gain of 1,900 jobs, according the Greater Houston Partnership’s end-of-year forecast.”

“Houston’s recovery has begun,” the report stated.

Then today’s WSJ provided more candy for my stocking with the headline “FedEx spots a Turning Point”. This past Monday is normally the biggest shipping day of the season to help Santa get Christmas presents delivered on time. Apparently his elves were working double shifts because 14.1 packages were shipped, marking a 17% increase over last year.

Looking through rose colored glasses in not a cure for anyone’s financial hardships. The message I hope to leave you with is that if we want to get ahead of our competition, now is the time for action. There are three things our employees are looking for from their leaders: Hope, Vision and Security. HBJ and WSJ have led the way with these reports. My question is “am I sending a message to my team to act or am I still looking out the window?”

Advertisement