Thursday, October 6, 2011

Beware The Simplifier

“Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger,” observed the German philosopher, Friederich Nietzsche (1844-1900). If there is any good, anything redemptive to be found in the current financial crisis and mess, then perhaps we should begin by considering these words of wisdom.

Investment guru Warren Buffett has called America’s financial crisis “an economic Pearl Harbor.” This reminds me of the words attributed to the Japanese admiral in charge of the attack on the U.S. naval base at  Pearl Harbor. When congratulated by his subordinates, Vice Admiral Nagumo is reputed to have said, “ I fear that we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolve.” That is exactly what happened.

All over our country, we are now waking up and realizing the folly of having too much house, too little savings, too much debt, too many expensive “big boy toys,” and too much stuff. Many people are resolved to change their financial lives and their relationships with money. Those who watch consumer trends believe that this may have a significant impact on consumer spending. Writing for Harvard Business Online, marketing consultant John Quelch has identified a new type of consumer that he calls “The Simplifier.” This new brand of consumer is pessimistic, cautious, and thrifty.

Simplifiers have four identifying characteristics:

First, they recognize that they have more “stuff “ than they can use or need. Our culture has accumulated so much “stuff’ that we have seen the development of a new profession, the professional organizer, to help us manage it. Baby boomers are spending weeks and months sifting through and disposing of even more possessions when their parents die or their living arrangements change. The past few months have seen a surge of books, websites, and blogs devoted to helping boomers dispose of clutter. More and more people are empting attics, basements, closets and garages, abandoning the “you-never-know-when –you-might-need –it” mindset they learned from their parents.

Second, Simplifiers want to collect experiences rather than possessions. They realize that that experiences, like education, is something that can never be taken from them. They realize that the same is certainly not true of possessions. Also, Simplifiers want to give experiences instead of goods as gifts to their children, relatives, and friends. There are few things that compare to the experience of traveling. For example, it has been twenty-three years since my wife and I visited London, but that experience is just as fresh today as it was in 1985. After the jet lag passed, we both agreed that we felt that we had returned to our real home.  We felt that we were from there. For the past eight years, I have made an annual business trip to San Antonio and each time, I visit the Alamo.  Every year, I stand there in awe of what took place in the crumbling walls of that old church that became a fort, knowing that larger than life men like David Crockett and Jim Bowie chose to fight and die there for freedom. I do not know of any possessions that can convey such depth of feeling as can  the experience of being there.

Third, Simplifiers find that their stuff has become an embarrassment.  When gas prices spiraled out of control a year or so ago, big SUVs suddenly changed from a pleasant indulgence to the signal of an irresponsible purchase of a gas guzzler.  I know. I was sooooo glad to trade-in my Jeep Grand Cherokee with its big hemi for a Honda Accord!

Fourth, Simplifiers are rejecting conspicuous consumption. They reject marketers’ continual pressure to spend more money on possessions instead of education, health care, and charity. They are disgusted with retailers who try turning every holiday and remembrance day into an orgy of buying gifts, cards, flowers, and candy.  They are angry with banks that seduce their children with generous offers of credit cards, and then trap them into paying obscenely high interest rates. They have no sympathy for those industries that are suddenly pleading for government bail-outs, after years of practicing poor, inefficient management.  The Simplifiers are going to vote with their pocketbooks, and woe to the merchants who do not realize this. Many of them will have new signs on their doors, and those signs will read “CLOSED.”

Will you join the ranks of the Simplifiers? Will you embrace thrift and savings, reject debt and consumerism?  Will you learn to shop in your own closet? Will you turn a cold and hard eye to marketing efforts? Will you stop believing the empty promises of politicians and business people who presume to know what is best for you, and instead adopt a “show me” attitude? Will you teach these things to your children? Will you teach your children that as consumers, they are targets? Will you teach your children that there is ultimately no true contentment and joy in things, but that true happiness in life comes from your relationships, experiences, and spiritual life?  If you will do these things and teach them to your children, then whatever you have suffered from the present financial crisis will make you strong indeed.

1 comment:

  1. This seems like good advice to me. It reminds me of when, after my aunt died, my uncle died and then my cousin was left to sort through a full-size basement,lifetime accumulation of stuff.
    One of the hardest challenges, I think, is the gift-giving traditions; if you challenge the pattern and the others involved are not on the same page, hurt feelings can be the result. I think that, as Mr Caldwell suggests, it has to begin with educating a new generation in a different set of values

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