This is Our Time
by Alan J. Parisse

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Despite the pain and shock of the past months and frankly because of it, this is our time. It is our time to review what has happened, renew our commitments, and rededicate ourselves to our families, our communities, and our work. 

This Holiday Season is a time to create a platform from which we can forge ahead into the New Year with vigor, passion, and resolve. 

It Won`t Be Easy

A few days ago, my opening line for this missive was "Now that something akin to normalcy seems to be returning to our lives and businesses, …" Then the phone rang. An agent with a speaker stuck in New York wanted to know if I could get from Boulder to Aspen to pinch-hit. American Airlines Flight 587 had crashed.

Within a couple of hours, it appeared that it was just an accident. Yet, the fact that a major airline crash can be preceded by the word "just" indicates that things are different. Still, we must go on.

This Holiday Season - Answer the Wake-Up Call

"That heart attack woke me up, made me rethink my priorities and got me to take better care of myself. Looking back, it was a good thing."

Wake-up calls (a.k.a. "pattern interruptions") are usually personal: a heart attack, the loss of a loved one, a car accident. They cause us to move suddenly from our norm; jolt us out of our comfort and certainty. Almost always shocking, they are often painful. However, they are usually not all bad.

Pattern interruptions shake us out of "automatic." They open us to new ideas; cause us to reset our priorities; allow for true creativity and can renew our passion. In September, we had a global pattern interruption. It has been horrible, but it is also an opportunity to open ourselves to a new and perhaps better future.

Don`t Shut Down

The knee jerk reaction is to use striking events to close our hearts and minds and reconfirm previously held positions. This time, many of us, including me, have done it. If we were hawks on September 10, we spread our wings on the 11th. If we were doves that Monday, we were singing Vietnam era peace songs on Tuesday night. The passionate patriots among us raised the flag higher, while those who would "blame America first" started blaming America first, last, and only. The strongly religious beheld confirmation of their beliefs, while the anti-religious saw evidence that all religions are evil.

Please Pause!

A pattern interruption is a time to hit the pause button, absorb new information, and gain fresh insight. Curious events should pique our curiosity, not shut us down. In the words of the Dickens character Fagan, in the musical version of Oliver Twist, it is a time to "review the situation" and "think it out again." Then each of us can and should choose or reconfirm our beliefs, make our commitments, and set our course.

Find Your Unique Contribution

Great challenges allow for great contributions. Since September 11, I have endeavored to show audiences that they have a unique or unusual contribution to make to the rest of us.

How can a room full of accountants help? For one thing, they understand numbers. The media and most of the rest of us do not. Let`s face it, yesterday someone in your town drank three quarts of whisky, smoked six packs of cigarettes, rode a motorcycle without a helmet but was afraid to open the mail!

Somehow, we ignore the one in 400 chance of dying of a heart attack; the one in 7,000 chance of dying in a car accident, and the one in 60,000 chance of dying crossing the street. Instead we focus intently on the one in a million chance of dying in a plane crash, the one in 100 million chance of dying from anthrax and the one in 300 million chance of dying from a shark bite. Accountants can help.

The next audience I spoke to was executives and managers from not-for-profit health plans. These people offer experience fighting a war that never ends or, even better, skill at making "Right / Right" decisions. Most of us make decisions on the basis of "right or wrong" and "good or bad." These days, however, things are not so "black and white." Health care people understand. "Do we spend $5 million a year to keep this 75 year old alive for two more years or do we spend the money on pre-natal care for poor mothers?" Both are right. But choose one. Those are the kinds of decisions we all face now. Health insurance professionals can help.

So far my formula has held up for top producing life insurance agents, financial planners, telecommunications professionals, and even the attendees of a public seminar. Now it is our turn.

Identify Your Unique Contribution

As we go through the Holidays, let`s all reflect on the unique contributions bureaus, agents, and speakers can make to our families, our communities, and our work.

Finding the right speaker, for the right audience, at the right moment is a lot. But we can do more. Let`s figure out what it is and PLEASE let`s be LOFTY about what we can contribute. More on this in my next message. In the meantime, let`s all count our blessings and have a joyous and meaningful Holiday Season.