Dear friends!

As we enter week 8, I have been thinking a lot about the evolving economic crisis facing you and I and the rest of the world. Many advisors in the world have become catatonic in response to the fears they feel. What I mean to say is they have allowed their fears and concerns to cause them to become inactive. I believe we need to change our thinking.

We should not worry about what is happening now, what we should worry about the day after! The day after is when all this chaos and confusion ends and we go back to work. When the economy settles down. When society replaces fear with hope. The day after!

We need to understand and accept that how we behaved before this current crisis is not an acceptable way to behave the day after. The trust we previously had with our customers has been seriously damaged. The banks in the US have misbehaved (zero prime mortgages), precipitated a world-wide economic crisis, and therefore damaged the reputation of anyone working in the financial services industry. It does not matter if you are working in the insurance business, a general agent, a loans office, a bank employee or whatever other financial position, all will be ‘painted with the same brush!’ What I mean is that all of us will be lumped together and blamed for the economic crisis we are currently experiencing.

It you think is it business as usual, if you think you do not need to change, if you think Cyprus is different than the US or England or China, you will be sadly mistaken. This is a globally interconnected and interdependent world. What happens anywhere in the world can have an affect on how you do business in Cyprus. This is not a time for you to be complacent. This is a time for you to lead. Lead through your behaviours.

This is a time for you to re-commit yourselves to the profession. This is a time to focus on your professionalism, productivity and profitability. It will be really important that you decide today what the day after will look like for you and your customers. Will you be like everyone else? Will you behave like you have always behaved? If you do not change you will slowly become less and less effective. The customer’s expectation of you and your services will be different. The real question is will you be different.

Today is when you decide what the day after will look like for you. The choice is yours. Don’t wait until it is too later. The day after is approaching! Good luck!
Jim