<div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:6d30aba1-0f43-46a0-9141-d07b20c657ed" style="display:inline;float:right;width:272px;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 5px;"><div>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus]</div>Louis CK on why we're amazing...courtesy of YouTube.</div> <p>I've heard a lot of talk lately about what's wrong with this country.&nbsp; </p> <ul> <li>Our banks are in a mess.  <li>We've created faulty and misleading financial instruments on Wall Street.  <li>We've put too much faith in technology and it won't 'bail us out' this time.  <li>The Government let this happen - let the government fix it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <li>America's lost the will to compete, the ability to lead in manufacturing, the fire to innovate.&nbsp; </li></ul> <p>Are you totally depressed yet?&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus" target="_blank">Click here</a> to watch a video for a different perspective on American innovation before&nbsp; you read on.&nbsp; </p> <div class="external_stage has_image"> <div class="thumbnail_viewer " id="thumbnail_viewer912677"> <div class="thumbnail_stage">Hopefully you feel a little better now.&nbsp; It may be a bit irreverent, but then perhaps we have been taking ourselves too seriously.</div></div></div> <p>Last night I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Lynn Tilton at the AeA meeting in Arizona.&nbsp; </p> <p><a href="http://www.patriarchpartners.com/team.html" target="_blank">LYNN TILTON</a> is the CEO of Patriarch Partners, LLC, a firm she founded in 2000 to manage and monetize the distressed portfolios of financial institutions.&nbsp; Patriarch has since evolved to focus on direct investments in distressed American businesses, managing funds with over <a href="http://www.patriarchpartners.com/platforms.html" target="_blank">$6 billion of equity and secured loan assets</a>. </p> <p>I did not agree with everything Lynn had to say, but she made some points that I definitively do agree with.&nbsp; Here are a few views we have in common:</p> <ul> <li>Government alone will not be able to spend us out of the current economic situation.&nbsp; Changes are needed in how we manage markets, how we do business AND how we value it.  <li>Small and mid-sized businesses are and will continue to be a key factor in turning things around, putting people to work, and restoring our economic base and through it or tax base. See <a href="http://www.youreconomy.org" target="_blank">YourEconomy.org</a> for a better picture of the sizes of businesses that create jobs in your community.  <li>It is up to all of us to use our own strengths and talents to affect change and move things forward.&nbsp; We'll have to be creative AND flexible.&nbsp;&nbsp; <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:0adc26f4-aebb-4d2a-b8e3-1c4208a5e7bc" style="display:inline;float:right;width:267px;margin:0;padding:10px 0 0 5px;"><div>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkwSloggR-g&amp;feature=email]</div></div></li></ul> <p>Lynn has a few more resources than I do.&nbsp; OK, a few billion more.&nbsp; She used her position to get the word out in a <a href="http://patriarchpartners.com/Lynn_Tilton_WashPost_NYT.pdf" target="_blank">Clarion Call</a> that was published in the NY Times and the Washington Post. Sent a <a href="http://www.patriarchpartners.com/open_letter_Geithner.pdf" target="_blank">letter to Treasury Secretary Geitner</a> proposing solutions.&nbsp; She's speaking out on national media, to small groups and large.&nbsp; And, agree with&nbsp; her or not, she is not sitting back and just letting things unfold as they may. </p><br> <p>So ask yourself.&nbsp; What can I do.&nbsp; Share ideas on this blog?&nbsp; Start a business?&nbsp; Support a business that is struggling and help them make it through this - while saving a few jobs in the process? Help someone who needs it to find a job? There are answers all around us.&nbsp; The trick is finding that one thing we overlooked before and putting it back to work for us in a new way.&nbsp; We need to use our networks and our contacts.&nbsp; And most of all, stop listening to the nay say-ers and just get on with it.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ac168f01-4c6d-41ec-8e2e-20abd32bef88" style="display:inline;margin:0;padding:0;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/joan%20koerber-walker" rel="tag">joan koerber-walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/corepurpose" rel="tag">corepurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Louis%20CK" rel="tag">Louis CK</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lynn%20Tilton" rel="tag">Lynn Tilton</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/economy" rel="tag">economy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/turn%20around" rel="tag">turn around</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/small%20business" rel="tag">small business</a></div>