Nancy Davison on What is Your Value?

WHAT IS YOUR VALUE IN TODAY’S JOB MARKET?

BY Nancy Davison
Entrepreneur & Community Volunteer

It is of common knowledge the economy is not doing well. No longer does it take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Although the mortgage crisis is winning the news flashes as it is easy to sell on Main Street, America, the real scion of this economic nightmare is in the derivative markets. Making money for the sake of making money, without creating any value of any kind to enhance the economy in anyway creates no value. When the $700 billion dollar rescue package was put forth the first half of the monies were used to shore up the balance sheets of our banking and investment communities. Sure, strings are attached to this bailout for those who partake, but those strings are in no way as strong as the money all of these bankers, brokers and middle men personally made on their way up to “no value” money schemes and our current economic nightmare.

When the U.S. taxpayers now become shareholders with the value add of being “Preferred” Shareholders to all of these bailed out, but certainly not rescued institutions the real question is, “What are we buying?”

We are buying an unknown bottomless pit of nothingness. Even the gurus on Wall Street now are acknowledging in their oh so expert computer models, they did not figure on any type of variables other than the economy would keep sailing along, their bonds and insurance would be tripled rated, so they kept making money, pocketing their excessive fees while creating nothing. When an auditor goes to look at the books, where is the value of these derivatives and what are they worth? There is no collateral to back up these creative money making schemes. There is no value.

When Mr. Rubin, the former Secretary of Treasury under former President Bill Clinton, was asked to step down from Citigroup this week, he said he never saw the situation coming in the economy today. Even though he had control of the pulse of one of the larger world wide financial institutions which has needed help, he didn’t know? Does he have blinders on or is this stupidity? Is his behavior insular or is he in denial? While the shareholders have lost to date approximately eighty percent of the value of their stock under his tutelage, he himself was enriched to the tune of $150,000,000 in income by Citigroup in this same time period. Where is the correlation of his value to Citigroup and his income paid to him by Citigroup? There is none.

Spending most of my career in commercial real estate on 100% commission I understand the value of receiving income. You get paid when the job is done and you receive income for value created to two parties. There is no rhyme or reason for these excessive payouts to the aforementioned parties involved in our economic demise today. Going forward there should be an expectation of income received for value earned. Yes, we all need to go forward. The psychological and economic skids existing in today’s economy is a pull between the reality of the past and the fear of the future.

There are many lessons to be learned and still many knots to untangle. But we are a people of invaluable wealth in our desires for our dreams and aspirations to come true. We have passions to pursue and lives to live. Do not be a deer with their eyes in a headlight. Make a plan and work the plan. Live your life; do not fear your life to live. Be an example to your children regarding adversity and lead them to the future with lessons learned from the past.

In today’s job market you are worth your knowledge, your willingness to work and your desire to create value at whatever level you may be in the workforce. As I lived through the 1980’s in commercial real estate and all the pension funds, foreign money and REIT’s looked to buy that Class A office building, if there wasn’t one available, build it and they will come. The tenants’ would come that is. The tenants never did and interest rates went up to 22%. There was no value in those empty buildings. The market corrected. Yes it took time, but it corrected. The economy never stops 100% and it never will.

It will take time to correct today’s unknown economic uncertainties but we each have an individual responsibility to move forward and create value in our lives. In today’s job market you are worth what you can offer. This is your value. If you are an employee go to your boss and let them know what needs to be done to create more value in the company. If you are an employer take the walls down, reach out to your employees and get their ideas on how to create more value in your company. These employees are the wealth of your company, use their value. An entrepreneur, pursue your dreams; there are deals to be made today. As Warren Buffet has said regarding the stock market, when others are selling I am buying. He is not a billionaire by default, he creates value and so can all of us. Rise above the mediocrity, overcome your personal fears and create your own unique value in today’s world of work.