The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself

This glimmer of hope came in 1933 from President Roosevelt’s first inaugural address: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” We baby boomers also remember this call to action from John F. Kennedy. And, we remember Ronald Reagan saying, "I hope I have appealed to your greatest hopes and not your worst fears.” Contrast these positive messages with, “a failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe." President Obama, Feb. 4th, 2009.

The cloud of fear that is hanging over Washington reminds me once again of Dr. Edwards Deming’s teachings. Dr. Deming, known as the father of the Japanese post-war industrial revival, was also regarded by a great many U.S. business leaders as the “father of modern day quality management.” One of his now infamous 14 points for transforming a business was number 8: “Drive out fear. Encourage effective two-way communication and other means to drive out fear throughout the organization so that everybody may work effectively and more productively for the company.”

Dr. Deming, FDR, JFK, and Reagan realized that fear is not a method for motivating a workforce. Throughout our consulting careers, we have seen the damage that fear can produce within individuals, teams and departments. When fear is the motivating force, failure is the results. Employees fail to question, to innovate, to report ineffective and even unsafe processes. Catalysts for fear, whether they be supervisors or policies, must be removed! Deming once said, "The economic loss from fear is appalling!" Has anything really changed?

We witness both political party representatives attempting to jump start the economy with an economic “stimulus” package. It’s clear to us that we are just about to make a trillion dollar decision based on fear. Doesn’t anyone remember President Kennedy’s posture on economic stimulus: “federal government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures.” He went on to say, “I do not underestimate the obstacles which the Congress will face in enacting such legislation. No one will be satisfied. Everyone will have his own approach, his own bill, his own reductions. A high order of restraint and determination will be required …But a nation capable of marshaling these qualities in any dramatic threat to our security, is surely capable, as a great free society, of meeting a slower and more complex threat to our economic vitality.”

I do not underestimate the obstacles that Congress will face in enacting such legislation. No one will be satisfied. Everyone will have his or her own approach, his or her own bill, his or her own reductions. Obviously, a high order of restraint and determination will be required. But, those qualities seem to be more visible when there is a major threat to our national security, not to our economic vitality.

The current cover story of Newsweek is, “We Are All Socialists Now.” The article states, “As entitlement spending rises over the next decade, we will become even more French.” Even in these troubling economic times, our GDP is five times larger than France (sixth largest world economy) and three times larger than Japan (second largest world economy). We cannot practice capitalism during an economic upturn and socialism during a downturn. Do we really want the great government “business minds” who have been running the U.S. Post Office, Amtrak, and Medicare to now be running the banks, insurance companies and car manufacturers?

Reagan enjoyed poking fun at the insufficiencies of socialistic systems. He once quipped, “A Russian man goes to the official agency (to buy a car), puts down his money and is told that he can obtain delivery of his automobile in exactly 10 years. ‘Morning or afternoon,’ the purchaser asks. ‘Ten years from now, what difference does it make?’ replies the clerk. ‘Well,’ says the car-buyer, ‘the plumber’s coming in the morning.’”

Fear has no place in private or public sector management. I like French food and wine but certainly not their socialistic political system. Let’s always remember JFK’s timeless words, “The strength of our free economy rests the hope of all free nations. We shall not fail that hope — for free men and free nations must prosper and they must prevail.”