Recently, a company operating in the music discovery space laid off about 1/3 of its team. Their reasoning was that since the economy is going downhill faster than a greased bowling ball, there’s gotta be some belt-tightening, budget cutting, and overall fiscal caution.
Another fine institution, the US Government, recently passed a $700 billion bailout bill for banks and 
financial institutions that were “blind-sided” by the the collapse of the housing market, bond market, subprime lending, and summarily their own 401k’s.
In both cases, what astounds me is the level of finger-pointing that has ensued. It seems that regardless of what actions you take, it’s always THEIR fault. You would’ve done fine, thank you very much, but THEY screwed it all up.
Imagine if you will, a songwriter. He would’ve written the greatest love song ever. But unfortunately, McCartney beat him to it. It’s his fault you see. Had Paul not written “Yesterday”, our songwriter would have, and he’d be a wealthy rockstar. It’s not his fault, it’s Paul McCartney’s.
Yeah, that sound ridiculous. And no one would buy that. But it’s not far from reality. Banks lend money to less than credit worthy folks with usurious (ok, adjustable…) interest rates. Those interest rates adjust, payments double or triple, and these folks go into default. Banks quickly point fingers and say “it’s their fault – they didn’t make the payments…” The borrower didn’t have to take the money, it’s their fault! But really, the bank sets the terms, and dangles the carrot. It any other circumstance, that’d be coercion. And that’s definitely a crime.
In the case of the music discovery company, they’re tightening their belts … but only AFTER they’d secured a solid round of investment to guarantee their placement through next year. Under that assumption, they launched ahead with all kinds of expensive campaigns and hires which didn’t really pan out they way they wanted to. But you can’t say that you blew cash on bad decisions. Oh no, it’s the economy …
The lesson here: own your shit. Take responsibility for your actions, and be prepared to eat a little crow when you have to. If you’re continually honest and truthful, you’ve got no reason for people to doubt you.
But what happens when you’ve got no one left to point fingers at?
