I must be getting older when I hear comments such as, "Remember back in 1980 when car loans were 18 percent and home mortgages were over 16 percent?" That was then, but now the same loans are 4.9 percent and 5 percent, respectively, and we say that our country seems to be in a meltdown.
We thought developers and builders were supposed to build, bankers were supposed to bank and politicians were supposed to step back and let the market roar to new heights with small business (you know, the almost 74 percent of us in Wisconsin who employ the most, pay the most taxes and shoulder the most risk) leading the way in production, new ideas and new processes brought to market.
Yet somehow this all has been turned upside down and it is literally penalizing many businesses around us.
Today, have our government and its legislators taken all the banking risk out of the market and squelched entire industries for a reason? Not sure. Yet, look around. There are many people in pain with no end in sight unless our business leaders – from businesses big and small – actually do some "leading," not bark on the sidelines waiting for government approval.
So what does that mean for me and you? Make every day count for you and your employees. Engage all of them in the process of your business and how to succeed as a team, not fail individually. We must all take full responsibility for our actions and oh, by the way, thank each and every customer for their business.
It does matter today and for the future. We are all in the people business, and relationships matter.
Jim Lagina is the owner and president of Lagina Plumbing in Milwaukee.
