What to Call the New Decade?

Personal Effectiveness

What to Call the New Decade?
By Bob Moore, CMC, MCC, The Effectiveness Coach®

Word Count: 380 Words
Reading Time: About 3 minutes

Bob Thacker, SVP of Marketing & Advertising for OfficeMax® said of the findings of the nationwide survey they conducted in December 2009, "Everyone has the chance to start fresh in 2010 with a new decade ahead of them. We're excited to learn through this survey that consumers are ready to take the express train to a brighter, more prosperous future."

The survey discovered that family, personal development and self-discovery will define the next ten years. Almost two-thirds (64%) believe they will spend more time with family and reconnect with old friends (42%). Over half (57%) believe the next decade will be about discovering what's most important in life and 47% think they'll laugh more than ever before.

Nearly seven in ten people selected "knowledge is power" (69%) and "don't count your chickens before they're hatched" (67%) to describe their hopes for smarter, more calculated decisions in the future. Almost four in ten (38%) prefer to use the phrase "the twenty-tens" when referring to the 2010 decade.

America's preeminent thought leader, Seth Godin, calls the 2010's "the frustration decade". He observes the frustration with the old way of doing things not working anymore and now the growing frustration with all the cool technology and new ways of doing business not being robust enough. Here are his picks for the two most important trends of the new decade:

Change: The infrastructure of massive connection is now real. People around the world have cell phones. Industries are being built every day (and old ones are fading) and an entire generation is eager to change everything because of it.
Frustration: Baby boomers are getting old. Dreams are fading, and so is health. This is the decade that reality kicks in. Seth says to look for this frustration to be acted out in public, and often.

His final note, "I think the coolest thing is that just about everyone gets to pick which one of these two alternatives they want to spend their time on. And being frustrated about change doesn't count as doing both."

If you have been following my messages lately, you already know my position on the economy. Unlike a presidential campaign of some years back, it is NOT about the economy, stupid! It is about transformation which must begin with us. Remember those 10, two-letter words, "If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me." It is more true in this decade than every before.

Enthusiastically,

Bob

Bob Moore, CMC®, President
Effectiveness, Inc/The Effectiveness Coach®
Aligning Human Capital with Strategic Objectives

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