Edition 325 – Balance Of Power
Election 2022 has been run and won. For the first time in almost 9 years, we have a new Government as Anthony Albanese led the Australian Labor Party to victory, despite recording one of Labor’s lowest primary votes in history.
For some small and family business owners, they perceive a change of Government may present a risk. Will the economic policy settings change that much from the previous Government? Will corporate and personal income tax rates increase, even though it wasn’t a policy raised during the campaign? How will the new Government tackle the huge level of debt that it has inherited and what new revenue measures will it need to introduce to start paying it back?
From my three decades of working with small and family business, I know the issues of risk and change will be a hot topic of conversation, from the board table to the dinner table. It will go on for weeks, possibly months, as any early miss-steps or surprise policy announcements will be scrutinised by the media and the public for their impact.
The fact of the matter is this – a change of Government is not the biggest impact that your business will experience in 2022. In actual fact, I’d go as far to say that the change of Government will have very little impact on your family business.
The biggest impact in your business in 2022, or indeed in any year, is you!
As the owner and leader of your business, it is the decisions that you make that will create the greatest impact. Be it:
- The direction of your business throughout the remainder of 2022.
- The long term vision for your business.
- The recruitment and retention of staff.
- The business’ budget settings.
- What contracts you do and don’t chase.
- What new ideas you develop and commercialise.
Sure, announcements by any Government of policy changes impact businesses – that’s an undeniable fact. However, when I look back over the family businesses that I’ve worked with over 30 years, the successful ones have been led by individuals and a management team that view change as an opportunity, not a threat. These are the business owners that back themselves unconditionally to make their businesses succeed, irrespective of any external factors at play. These are the people that control what they can and accept what they can’t.
When you cast your eyes across the globe, and you observe, from afar, the instability taking place elsewhere, a change of Government evidenced by a peaceful transition of power between the incumbent and the victor would not be a worry at all. Indeed, such an event would be worthy of celebration. When you put that into perspective, we’re luckier than we think we are …..and more in control of our destiny than we imagine.
This Week’s Tip
“There’s opportunity in everything, if you’re prepared to look for it.”