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Now is the time for community

Now is the time for community

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I woke up, said my prayers, and prepared to get to work. It was Saturday morning — this morning, in fact — and I was drawn to this message in my inbox.

It said:

PLEASE CLICK QUICKLY
and so I clicked.

I clicked because this message was from Verne Harnish, and he is doing something noble: employing his people to look for good news to amplify. News of everyday heroes, small business leaders who are keeping their people at work, paying them whatever wages they can muster. Employing laid-off spouses. Improvising new ways to get work done. Founding new ideas to work on. Finding ways to keep money moving.

At the time of Verne’s message, his staff had received 539 positive news story ideas from entrepreneurs around the world.  Stories of community, innovation and solidarity. Because, in the words of Verne, “it’s time to promote the unsung heroes of our economy.”  I’m sure the submissions have multiplied manyfold by now. “We have interns pouring through the ideas and summarizing – we’ll keep the positive news/ideas flowing,” said he.

Before I go on, here’s the story so you too can click the link and amplify the good news. The more clicks this story gets, the longer it stays pinned on its news channel.

Here’s a novel idea: a call for uplifting stories. A call for amplification of good news. So how about we make it not-so-novel?

Let’s make it a refrain: keep publishing, keep amplifying the good news that’s all around us.

I spend a lot of time heralding the bravery, the nobility of entrepreneurs. Fact is, you don’t have to be a ‘trep’ to be a hero.  Every one of my teammates here at LendIt is a hero of mine.  My comrades-in-arms are working from home on reduced wages, juggling stir-crazy kids, quick-shifting priorities, and untold uncertainty. Today, everyone is an entrepreneur. Today, everyone is working between the 40% and the 70%.

Colin Powell once said, “Generally you should act somewhere between P40 and P70, as I call it. Some time after you have obtained 40% of all the information… start thinking in terms of making a decision. When you have about 70% of all the information, you probably ought to decide, because you may lose an opportunity in losing time. In the military, we are also taught to only use one-third of the available decision-making time, so that our subordinates have time to go through their own decision processes when they learn what we want them to do.”

Between the 40% and the 70%: that’s where leadership resides.

Everyone putting themselves to work right now is a hero of mine. These are my LendIt Fintech teammates, and you probably know many of them by name. They are doing their part to keep money moving. They are the heroes of our economy, working with bravery in the 40% to 70%.

In the video above, my primary messages were two-fold:

  • It’s time for community
  • It’s time for innovation

Turns out, that’s what defines our mission at LendIt Fintech. There has never been a more important time for strength, agility and innovation in financial services. Possibly this is more true now than at any other time in the history of the world.

Now is not the time to compete. Now is the time for solidarity.

No go out and prove it. Prove you’re a person of integrity in this time of momentous challenge. Reach out to your respected competitor and offer your help.

  • Bo Brustkern

    Bo Brustkern is fascinated by the developments in Web3 and crypto, and how they will interact with the embedded systems of traditional finance. He is co-founder & CEO of Fintech Nexus, and operates mainly from his office in Denver, Colorado, USA.

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