Collective Amnesia

Do you feel like Alice in Wonderland (no need for guys to imagine yourselves in a cute pink dress… unless you really want to)? If so, the good news is that you did not catch the virus of collective amnesia; at least not yet. This condition has not been proven scientifically although it seems to be spreading quickly. Its symptoms are very similar to the collective hallucination condition where a non-existing event is induced by the power of suggestion to a group of people… usually high on drugs.

If you did not catch the virus, you should by now feel like having one of those nightmares where all common sense suddenly disappeared and you became an outcast surrounded by people behaving outside the norms? Do you remember the deep burning sensation of being misunderstood and overwhelmed by the ignorance around you? That is how it feels today when seeing the market panicking and businesses downsizing with no strategic objectives.

Make no mistake, a single instance of amnesia is understandable and could be a medical condition, but when this condition is collective, the panic feeds on itself because people “collectively” tend to forget the same things. Can you relate to situations where you communicated a plan on numerous occasions and everybody agreed on the next steps, but somehow when confronted with deadlines, collective amnesia took over?

The market today is reeling from collective amnesia and people forgot that a downturn is an opportunity to reinvent and reinvest. People seem to forget basic economics and facts. But the truth is that facts are facts, and sooner or later, the drug effect will wear out and reality will settle in. That is when businesses will realize that they missed an opportunity to set themselves up for better days.