Ireland’s Economy – 92 years older but is it 92 years wiser?

Did Michael Collins 92 years ago deliver a vision of a better tomorrow we can realise today?

In August 1922, 10 days before his tragic death, one of modern Ireland’s foremost founding fathers General Michael Collins said at the funeral of a fellow founding father Arthur Griffith “Our object in building up the country economically must not be lost sight of. That object is not to be able to boast of enormous wealth or of a great volume of trade for their own sake. It is not to see our country covered with smoking chimneys and factories. It is not to show a great national balance sheet, nor to point to a people producing wealth with the self-obliteration of a hive of bees. The real riches of the Irish nation will be the men and women of the Irish nation the extent to which they are rich in body and mind and character."

When we think of his comments in such times, we think of a long guerilla war with the British Empire in the achievement of a measure of Irish independence and a subsequent civil war; which tested all of Ireland’s leaders in ways unheard of today. Even through the violence, tension and daily tests of courage, Michael Collins never lost sight of the future state of Ireland and her economy as a free nation in the civilized world.

Since Michael Collins passing in 1922, Ireland’s economy has gone through three episodes of extreme debt burden. The first being the crippling war debt (1923-1924), the second spurned by the oil crises and government overspending (1970s-1990s) along with the third being the Euro banking crises (2008-2014). These times have heralded the onset of economic havoc in varying degrees which leaves us with a clear message ‘if we don’t seriously consider the wider implications and longer term consequences of our actions on our fellow man, then our fellow man will end up paying for our short sightedness.’ It is something I think Michael Collins considered in the above quote and one we should not loose sight off in the continuing creation of a sustainable society that balances fairness with ambition in the context of today’s rapidly changing world.

Bearing the above in mind, we would be wisely counseled to consider the following points in the formulation of company policy as much as public policy; given both in aggregate affect our common future in the short, medium and long term.

Longer Lenses are needed in planning. It is not really acceptable to think we can sustainably guide businesses and countries with anything from six month to five-year plans. Strategic planning sessions need to think in terms of strategy execution (to 6 months), medium term planning (to 5 years), long term planning (5 years +). The Chinese see long term strategic planning as an investment and have being known to have 30 year strategic plans which they actively work on by following up on them; importing long term planning elements into their medium term planning sphere as time passes.

Operating Effectiveness needs to be assessed through an objective lens of evaluation where opinions are verified through effective monitoring and reporting structures including KPIs, Audits, Management Reporting and a well thought out quantification of employee performance in key areas like skills, performance, personality and cultural fit. If you don’t have the right people wholly fitting into the right roles, then your ability to truly reach your goals becomes inhibited by the variance created in your approach to operating effectiveness.

Prioritization should be done on the basis of what is critical to the longer-term plans as much as the short term outlook. If a longer-term priority will introduce a sustainable value-creating element into the mix, then stakeholders should be onboard given they have already bought into the overall vision.

Remember who your customers are. The economy has lent great opportunities to our society and some have disproportionately gained from it through good luck, hard work and great timing. Its important for those whom are successful to remember their success comes from the greater public platform to which their success is directly or indirectly based upon. Reciprocation through ethical and socially aware business practices does not inhibit the successful; it allows them to bring everybody with them on their journey making it a sustainable venture. After all, shortest route travelled ends the quickest and misses all the opportunities that lie in a slightly longer route to a better destination.

Some say we are destined to repeat our mistakes and maybe we are! However, if Michael Collins can under extreme circumstances envision a better tomorrow, then why cant we freemen of today do the same adding brush strokes to the picture Collin’s painted for us all bringing a better future for all our children yet to breath life in this world?

 

General Michael Collins RIP - 1890 - 1922

Sources/Credits:

Pics:

www.news.ie.msn.com

www.oireachtas.ie

www.commons.wikimedia.org

www.secretireland.de

Credits:

www.rareirishstuff.com