How America Got Its Mojo Back

America Is Back, Baby!

In the movie, "The Spy Who Shagged Me," the premise is that Dr. Evil steals Austin Power's "mojo" - the ethereal substance that helps him be the world's greatest spy and "shagedelic" to boot. In the same way, Al Qaeda targeted the World Trade Center because it was a symbol of America's dominance, and at a deeper level, because it wanted to steal America's mojo. We must admit, as a phallic symbol, the Twin Towers were a pretty tempting target. "Hey look, I'm so virile I have two penises!"

In perpetrating 9/11, Osama bin Laden was able to trigger in America a deep economic dysfunction that crippled morale and helped to launch a cascading series of national failures. It's like America was forced to suffer seven years of bad luck, led by an administration that seemed incapable of doing anything right... least of all, capturing the criminal who masterminded it all. Even the one shining moment of "Mission Accomplished" became an embarrassing "oops" for the country.

Freedom Tower

But baby, we're back. After ten years, Ground Zero is finally seeing some construction activity, as Freedom Tower is being rapidly... erected. And the street that surrounds it -- Wall Street -- is kicking ass again with "BSD's" earning eight figure bonuses, after narrowly dodging a total meltdown of the financial system. Ever so slowly, jobs are being created (as shown in the diagram to the right). What's more, this single and defining symbolic event happened after everyone -- including the former President -- had all but given up hope and considered the task of finding bin Laden impossible.

The symbolic meaning of the daring raid by Seal Team Six that brought down Osama bin Laden should not be under-estimated. The way to turn around a losing streak is to literally prove that the impossible is not only possible... but "yes we can" achieve the impossible. The Obama administration knows that it needed a victory that not only proved that the impossible is achievable, but that would provide a deep symbolic shift in the consciousness of the country.

Now, if we, as a country, can somehow follow up this remarkable triumph with a string of cascading successes, it could very much catapult America back to the top again. So how do we insure our own resurgence? Three steps are necessary, and oddly, the advice applies equally to both countries and corporations seeking to successfully pull off a turnaround.

First, we all need to realize that a house divided is always weaker than a house united. Therefore, we must end the polarization created and supported by the extremes of both political parties. At a company, it's easy: when the new CEO proves himself, the Board will give him the power to lay off the deadwood that was loyal to philosophy and goals of the previous failed administration. In other words, you clean house.

Unfortunately, it isn't possible in a civilized country to ask all the people loyal to the previous administration to simply move to some other country and stop blocking progess, so we must learn some new way to depolarize and re-unite America. The sad reality is that we're no longer the United States of America, but rather, the Divided States of America, neatly separated into Democratic vs Republican, into red and blue states, into Liberalia and MurdochLand. To be united means to transcend our differences and learn how to actually want common goals and to be harmonious. Therefore, those who seek to polarize the country for their own gain -- whether it be better ratings or political power -- are the real enemy of America.

So how do we bring America, or any company that faces the arduous task of pulling off a turnaround, back together again? There are three steps that we must take, as a country or a company, to reunite and win.

The first step is the hardest: we must agree, as a collective marching forward into the future, to decide things based on reason and facts and courage, instead of dogma and politics and fear. For example, at a company attempting a turnaround, the unsuccessful ways of doing things must be stopped. Those who insist on running their divisions along the old ways that are proven to be unprofitable, need to be removed from authority, no matter how much political power they wield. The bad apple ruins a barrel. Equivalently, for our country, those who irrationally believe that President Obama was not born in the United States and thus not a legitimate Commander in Chief... simply put, need to get over it. Those who are afflicted with such conspiracy theories must at least try to recover from the cognitive dissonance that keeps them from seeing reality clearly. It is only by seeing reality -- facts and data -- that we can move toward a positive future.

The second step is to learn how to take risks again. Just like President Obama, who made the risky decision to use Seal Team Six, instead of obliterating the site with a bomb safely from 30,000 feet, he chose to take a big risk for big reward. Likewise, captains of industry and venture capitalists need to learn how to take risks again, to make investments, to fund chancy projects, to go after new markets, to attempt IPOs. The other day at lunch, I overheard a venture capitalist in the next booth talking to an associate. When asked whether to put some seed money into a startup, he admonished, "Why take the risk? Just promise them you're interested, and push them to build it without risking anything. It's like getting a free option!" This is exactly the kind of thinking that stalls the recovery. Taking risks and injecting startup cash into the system kickstarts the market back up again. Instead, many VCs act like lemmings -- happily following a bubble until it bursts, but without the guts and courage to invest when the time is ripe... when there's blood on the street.

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The third step is to rebuild a culture of competency. During the Bush administration, the hits just kept on coming. It was like watching the Keystone Kops in the White House. Here's a new one that gets me: it was recently revealed that the Bush White House ignored a secret report from MI6, the British intelligence agency, a year before 9/11, that warned of Al-Qaeda plans to use "commercial aircraft" in unconventional ways, "possibly as flying bombs." Simply ignored.

On the road to recovery

In contrast, consider how meticulously Team Obama planned the recent operation, which included the patient and covert observation of the bin Laden compound for several months, the risky use of a classified stealth variant of the Blackhawk assault helicopter, and building a replica of the target site, so Seal Team Six could train over and over for the operation to increase the likelihood of getting it right - and of course, the fortitude to keep the operation a complete secret, instead of spilling the beans prematurely for political favor. Obama's culture of competency is further proven through the steadfast achievements over the last two years: saving the financial markets, saving the auto industry, reversing the job losses of the previous administration, passing significant healthcare reform. And that's how you build a culture of competency - you aspire to excellence, you treat every task like lives depended on it, and you take it one success at a time.

America is back, baby. And now, we're at a crossroads. We need to decide if we, as a country, united by intent and resolve, will boldly move forward into the future together, or shall we continue to be divided, at war with ourselves and others around the globe, controlled by fear and clinging desperately to the past. That decision must be made by every American, now that we have our mojo back.