Professional Services for Social Impact

The Next Decade Survey Results – Decidedly Mixed!

Last month we conducted a survey that asked our clients and friends to predict if the next ten years will be better or worse.  Here are the results:

9%    Much worse than the last 10 years
32%  Worse than the last 10 years
9%     About the same as the last 10 years
41%   Better than the last 10 years
9%   Much better than the last 10 years

These results mirrored precisely a recent survey we conducted with a Board of Directors of a YMCA as part of a strategic/vision planning session.  As always, the open ended comments provide some very interesting insights. 

Here’s an optimistic point of view:“As the last 10 years have been so bad, I think there’s a strong possibility the economy, the international environment, and the social conditions in our country will improve dramatically.”

Here’s a skeptical point of view:“Drawn out period of unemployment. Change in consumer mentality cause unsteady growth.  Our leaders refuse  to deal with fundamental issues and concerns – fiscal controls, social responsibility, and an angry and divided populous.  For the YMCA an opportunity to revisit our core strengths or drift in the wind and become just another commodity.”

On a much broader scale, USA Today recently conducted a comprehensive survey that indicated that Americans are downbeat about today, but upbeat about tomorrow.  With a new decade underway, Americans feel battered by hard times, record home foreclosures, stubbornly high unemployment rates, and war.  Even so, confidence that there will be better times ahead – and that the classic American dream endures – hasn’t been extinguished. 

So – is it foolish or wise to be optimistic?  There are some who think that always being positive is in fact a negative and that “reckless optimism” is the root of our recent economic calamities.    Some believe that a  cult of optimism makes it hard for people at work to express doubts or raise questions for fear as being seen as negative and counter-productive.  On the other hand, we’ve all been in situations where colleagues find it easier and safer to find reasons against doing something and make excuses not to make changes or be against new ideas.  Let’s face it, how many of us have walked away from a meeting thinking “that was great, but I wish it was less positive.”

The wise answer probably lies in the middle – which brings us back to the results of our survey which clearly lie in the middle.  Both optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints need to be aired to arrive at the best solutions.  The key is to seriously consider the potential downside of any challenge, but to not let fear and negativity crush our dreams and hopes.

Reid Thebault, the CEO of Metro Detroit YMCA, indicated that he really wanted to see another optional response in our survey to be “much, much different than the last ten years”.  Reid wrote, “For those who figure out what the difference is and means, the future will be better.  For those who don’t, it won’t matter because they won’t be here or they won’t matter.”