Remember the good old days when restaurateurs only had to worry about decreased traffic, skyrocketing commodity prices and stressed out staffs. Gosh, that was only last week wasn’t it? The total collapse of the equity and credit markets has created a national crisis, an event similar in scope to the 9/11. People respond differently to a national crisis than they do to a slowing business cycle. People are stunned. Many opened their 401k account statement and were shocked. The statements do not reflect the markets drops of another 15% over the last two weeks.
What is the next step for restaurateurs? David Brooks of the NY Times suggests prudence:
What is prudence? It is the ability to grasp the unique pattern of a specific situation. It is the ability to absorb the vast flow of information and still discern the essential current of events — the things that go together and the things that will never go together. It is the ability to engage in complex deliberations and feel which arguments have the most weight.
How is prudence acquired? Through experience. The prudent leader possesses a repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can’t, what has worked and what hasn’t.
What does your experience tell you?
