“Confidence and credit are the cornerstones of business, as they are of society. Withdraw them from business and the activities and enterprises of the world would stop in an instant, topple and fall into chaos. Withdraw confidence in humanity from the individual, and he becomes but a breathing, selfish egotist, the one good man left, working overtimes in nursing his petty grudge against the world because a few whom he has favored have been ungrateful.” ~ William George Jordan
A simple truth applies to every level of organization. It is not limited by being applicable in only a general sense, nor is it limited to only applying in narrowly defined situations. Great truths are internally consistent, universally applicable and never in conflict with one another.
While the words written by Mr. Jordan above were initially penned some 108 years ago, they could have been written this morning, in relation to the precarious state of the world’s financial markets in general and the condition of the U.S. economy in specific. Taken a step further, Mr. Jordan’s statement of a simple truth applies neatly to the life of individuals, like you and me.
The world, our world, the world we have created for ourselves and are responsible to steward, is suffering from an acute shortage of both confidence and credit. Despite the many attempts to point fingers and assign blame, the problem ultimately falls on the shoulders of the individual. The sum total of every individuals’ problems, shortcomings, attitudes and approaches is what we call the world and we each play a part in creating the world we will live in tomorrow based on how we handle the world we inhabit at this, and in every, moment.
The longer we stagnate in the doldrums of sagging confidence and debilitating distrust the worse the world will get. Individuals will continue to retreat into isolated self-interest and nervous self-protection, which only has the effect of compounding the problem, making it more chronic than acute. New paradigms are born when an acute pattern becomes chronic. If you look at the spending patterns of individuals today versus 4 years ago, you will see how this principle operates. People have become much more cautious and conservative with their money, not because there is less of it to go around, but because of the shift in their attitudes toward it.
In my experience the resolution of most crises tends to hinge not on the availability of more resources, but on the deliberate cultivation of a greater sense of confidence and trust. The power, effectiveness and sustainability of the individual as well as of a team, company or nation rests on its level of confidence.
Take care not to yield so much confidence in the goodness of humanity, the ability of mankind to overcome its problems and in your own capabilities that you are left with no choice but to form a petty grudge against the world or those around you. Grudges are the doorway to impotence.
When you recognize that most of the world’s problems stem from the absence of the presence of gratitude, you see very quickly what must be done to restore confidence and trust. The entire pattern – no matter how malignant it has become – can be unlocked when an underlying stance of gratitude is sustained over time.
In all things give thanks.
Gregory Hake 
Excellent post, thanks@
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Great quote by Mr. Jordan! By allowing your faith in humanity to be voiced and seen, you allow the hatred of those who slander you also to be seen. The ignorance and prejudice is so unattractive even for those who pride themselves in vanity. Their ongoing disdain for their country and countrymen at every whim, being so critical, leaves them only capable of having a small life based on the largest topic of their myopic worlds (basically a disrespectful disdain of others).
You cannot be afraid to trust, love and live in humanity, because like it or not, this is the life we have and only you have the power to live it rightly!
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No ill can ever come from simply giving thanks. Thank you for yet another blessing through your post today!
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Wow, Jordan just keeps nailing it. Amazing excerpts from Jordan & commentary from you. Enjoying everyone’s comments too.
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Wouldn’t WJ Jordan be interested to see the expansion of his principle of finance and business as it appears today!
It truly is all about confidence. Our currency is based on just that – how much confidence we can engender in the capacity of the United States of America to produce. There is no business anywhere without the deliberate investment or engendering of confidence. Lack of it brings collapse; overconfidence brings inflated illusions and all the dangers accompanying that.
What is the basis for a true, balanced sense of confidence? I suppose that’s the next logical question!
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Gratitude is the only way to know peace, in ourselves and our world. Thanks for the postings.
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Interesting thing about confidence. That’s one of those things that can be a slippery slope, when felt and acted upon in excess of balance, you don’t have the sufficient preparation to hit your target and you can look rather foolish. Too little, where you really have more to offer to the thing you are looking or even needing to do, then the clamps get put on and nothing happens. These things do end up working out on the global scale eventually, and I see where the economic tides reflect this very phenomenon. We certainly don’t need more reasons for people to become more self-absorbed and self-interested that’s for sure.
Self-governance is where it’s at. We don’t need to be creatures dominated by the rise and fall of the market and global economy and all the policies put in place in an attempt to stabilize these forces. How’s it put? In happiness not overjoyed, in sadness not despaired…..something like that. The point being one has the inner stability that allows there to be an anchor to the shifting tides of the ‘world’ that we live in, and the more balance we have in our stance, the better and more helpful we are in influencing this world in a positive direction. It’s more of a proactive stance. There’s alot of detail that goes into this for each one of us to forge in our lives, but that’s the gists of it.
Here we see that simple gratitude is of the center weight in that anchor. Interesting how that all works!
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The haters of the world have had a loud voice only because the others haven’t been as vocal. Bad news isn’t the only news but it is what gets the air time. I appreciate your type of blog; it helps to concentrate on how we help to heal our world not commiserate on blame. When we choose to forgive and stay focused on progressing the rest will follow as it is the natural order. Thanks for your contribution.
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There is no other stance or attitude to take that will carry us individually or collectively onward and upward. A grudge against anything is like saying what ever happened is the deciding point for my entire life and my ability to live creativly was ended there. The words ” lighten up” come to mind but it probably should be more like, “turn the light back on”!
Love this train of thought. Thank you.
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Amen Gregg! Thank you!
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