Who’s Planting Solution Seeds?

No better place to take the pulse of how America’s leaders and thinkers are truly feeling about our future than here at the Milken Institute Global Conference, and from their attitudes and remarks, one can’t but surmise that everyone’s a bit bewildered and befuddled with today’s state of play.

Entrepreneurs, innovators and influencers have gathered from around the globe to discuss today’s political, economic and cultural issues. While the pace of the conference has been intense, with attendees darting from one panel on Wall Street to one on legislative reform to another one on technology to tap into the latest internet trends, the underlying current in conversations is not one of excitement and hope but of anxiety and angst.  Why? Because so many of the conversations taking place, both on stage and off, are historical in perspective. Debate still rages about our near-miss depression, the auto industry bailout, the Obama administration policies, and yet not one single panel has addressed, definitively, any concrete steps toward true problem solving. This lack of forward thinking has caused attendees, including 80+ Vistage International members, to wonder exactly what will get us out of this mess, and who will lead.

Campbell Brown, CNN,  addressed it directly in last night’s dinner panel with her opening remarks. She shared, “I’m jumping right in, the country is angry,” and she launched into the Arizona immigration bill. But what are we going to effectively do with our anger? If anger is a mask for fear, then the fear will persist as long as the future is not clear. This unfocused future creates uncertainty, and so pundits and business leaders alike spin their wheels in the safety zone of 20/20 Monday morning quarterbacking instead of creating a brand new playbook.

“It’s not helpful to hear a social media panel discuss Facebook and Twitter, never mention Linkedin, and not talk about anything new,” said an attendee from San Diego, who wished to remain anonymous. “There’s not a single person under the age of thirty on this panel, they’re all men, and they’re all talking about successes that occurred over two years ago. Where’s it going…and how do I successfully stay at the front of the curve? I need to know.”

“It’s great that Maria Shriver is supporting women,  but the first night’s panel on women was outdated and took us back to 1950. It would have been more helpful to hear about options we all have today, right now, that we can be looking at to help foster a healthier economy, shrink the generation gaps in the workplace…and while it’s fun to see Ron Bloom show a little emotion and get a tad testy, why are we so focused on the administration’s done deals? ” asked another attendee from Chicago.

This need to know is why people are here. Ruby Randall, President and COO of Vistage is on her third consecutive year with the Milken conference. “I still have notes from last year, gems I heard, critical questions that were posed by great thinkers, that I can look at today, and they are still timely and relevant because they were so cutting-edge twelve months ago.”

But who’s posing these relevant questions today? In our Vistage world, where we thrive with key indicators, the Milken Institute has done an incredible job of collecting data and creating useful charts, but how do we turn the data into decisions that move us forward? It truly is time to start planting new seeds and stop whining about all the weeds.

Leaders, are you listening?  And do you know how to garden? ‘Cause we sure could use the cultivation of some solutions.

by AmyK Hutchens
Founder & Intelligence Activist
www.amyk.com
Twitter: @AmyKinc
Twitter: @AmyKHutchens
Become a Fan on Facebook

1723 views