Stay Curious, Produce Success

By Dave Hoffman, Editor

With today’s election, we’re coming into an opportunity to turn over a new leaf in our political discourse. I don’t expect much to change, but if enough people speak up, there is a chance that our leaders will respond.

I want a vision of America that is led by the people, not elected officials. One of my biggest disappointments over the past few election cycles has been the focus on what government has done for us. I was raised under the historical premise of “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” so I’m not so responsive to a laundry list of government programs and who they help. 

This is not to dismiss those among us who need help, but to celebrate those of us who use what resources we have and view every situation as an opportunity. 

Before Covid, in 2019, I had just taken the leap of faith and struck out on my own to produce the Hudson Valley Music Summit and the Music Video Film Festival. They were a humble beginning, but I took pride in the spirit of American enterprise that allowed me to create a vision of my own. Not just the economic system that allowed for free enterprise, but the culture that encouraged it. I learned lessons, made friends, and brought people together for a period of time. 

The lockdowns hit me hard. I was planning to pivot to my original purview of investment management conferences when everything shut down. I remember going into a mid-March weekend thinking that this was going to take some extra elbow grease, and coming out the following Monday recognizing that I had to shut the whole thing down. In entrepreneur-speak, my value proposition of bringing people together so they can meet face to face and shake hands was not a good product market fit in June of 2020, the one time when the entire planet all agreed that this was a bad idea.

I took some computer programming classes only to find that it’s not for me – it’s a growing field, but dominated by young kids who can do it in their sleep. So I turned back to freelance writing. 

One of my jobs was writing feature stories for chambers of commerce across the country. In this capacity, I was exposed to a range of narratives. Many were mundane business profiles, but a few stood out as inspiring.

As an events professional one story stuck out particularly. I was assigned to cover the historical society for Dixon CA, a small town that had just acquired a building for a museum. Run of the mill stuff as far as Chamber of Commerce stories go, until I dug deeper. The person behind it was an events professional who had become unemployed when the Moscone Center where he worked was forced to close. While on hiatus from his job, he took the initiative to find the building where the museum is now located. The historical society had been talking about getting a building for over 30 years when this opportunity presented itself. The way I heard the story, the shutdown of this guy’s industry wasn’t the disaster I looked at it as, it was merely a changed condition that allowed him to use his initiative to complete this task for this local non-profit, a labor of love that benefited his hometown. He’s not alone, and it works at scale.

The city of Spartenburg South Carolina was hurt by the pandemic because it relied heavily on travelers using its international airport. So the airport took measures to increase its capacity to handle air cargo. This got them through the tough times, and not only increased their air traffic, but demonstrated the value of a diversified economic basis. It was homegrown initiative that made this happen.

In Mount Kisco, our daycare center was faced with a surplus of meals that they had contracted for before having to shut down. Every day, a line of cars would stop by to be given a tin by the masked employees, a little help for people who might be on a tight budget. 

It’s this initiative I want to hear about. Some people think immigrants come here because they hear the government will help them. I think they’re here because they take initiative, and that’s why they belong here, that’s why they’re one of us. Let’s celebrate them, too. 

Now that I’m at the helm again as CEO of Asset Allocator Institute, I hear a lot of people feeling stressed about election results while I feel too busy to be bothered. When faced with the pressure of making payroll, meeting deadlines, and pacifying diverse constituents, I remind myself to feel blessed for having achieved what I wished for, in a country that allows it and a culture that encourages it.  

I’m glad we have a government that takes care of things that we can’t and helps people who need it, but I want leaders who recognize the people who take initiative on their own, because that’s what this country was founded on. We’re interdependent. We see each other. These people inspire me, and I’d like to live in a country where people draw inspiration from similar stories. Initiative is what leads us out of depression – both psychological and economic. Surely the President has access to these stories if I’ve heard them. Let enterprising people inspire others – we’re the ones who make it happen! 

Let this be the message going forward. 

If you have any stories about enterprising people that you’d like to share, consider submitting them to Fortune’s Folio. Send me a DM and let’s talk!