4 PARADIGMS

In a small booth near the front door of an equally small midtown Manhattan diner, I sat across the table from Josh Persky, the Oracle of New York. I’d actually read about this guy a couple of years ago and recently I had an opportunity to meet him at a networking event. Although, he looked familiar as Grand Central to me, I couldn’t place where…until later on when I had time to check out his website…ah, ha!

Way back when, in 2007 when we all had great jobs, made tons of money and the economy was booming (or so we thought), Josh was busy getting laid off. He was the nucleus, the “Person Zero” of world-changing events. Ripples became tidal waves and many of us were subsequently RIF’ed into an alternate universe we never thought existed. Kinda Matrix-y, right? Well, while all this was happening, Josh became the two-piece-suit-Manhattan-everyman, who was brave enough to pound the pavement – resume in hand – wearing a sandwich board that read: “Experienced MIT Grad for Hire”. Clearly original, someone should hire this guy! The media caught on. Admiring fans encouraged him. He received a top-notch branding makeover. Prospective employers wooed him and one time he even received two very prestigious job offers in the same day.  In fact, he did land a job – for a few months anyway.   As a result, Josh became a cornerstone – no, an icon – of optimism and in creating opportunity out of adversity.  So, although he has way more going for him than most employed people I know; why can’t Josh Persky find a job?

Perhaps, as one pundit put it…

“Try thinking of it this way: All of the unemployed people in the country are gathered in a huge gymnasium that’s been turned into a job search center. The fact that this recession is the worst in a generation means that there are many, many people in the gym. The fact that the economy is churning so slowly means that there is not much traffic into and out of the gym.

If you’re inside, you will have a hard time getting out. Yet if you’re lucky enough to be outside the gym, you will probably be able to stay there.”

But even “outside”, those who have been employed through this cycle and doing the work of three people tell me they’re constantly worried, don’t sleep well and many are going through divorce – same sort of symptoms as evidenced by people who survive a plane crash. While our country struggles to get back on track and at the same time many employers report record profits; regenerating the economy has taken its toll.

So, how do we turn this “sows ear into a silk purse”? We continue the disruption. What I mean by that is, our belief in certain growth models has already been interrupted, in fact, they no longer exist. We’re therefore compelled to discover ways to create a new foundation. Evidence comes from entrepreneurs I’ve met and those transparent and collaborative efforts that are appearing – and from creative people like Josh who are saying “why not?”.

While Vegas-Style investing will likely continue, many of us are finding the value of “giving”. This might sound like pie-in-the-sky altruism, but can we continue to take and expect a different result? Change the formula to create a different outcome. Having coffee with a guy who created attention-grabbing headlines by seeking to define a different model, reminded me that there are an infinite number of ways we can change what has been, into what will be.

As for Josh Persky, anyone lucky enough to meet him or even better, work with him, will know what it’s like to approach opportunities to change the way we are and to develop new perspectives rather than rest on what might have been. If reincarnation exists, I want come back as Josh Persky.

Tags: LinkedIn

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Economy, daily perspectives, networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.