We all have our reasons

We all have our reasons the future turns out a certain way.

Did we not anticipate the adoption of new technologies that would erase our competitive advantage? Yes, well you see, we had our reasons. We were amortizing old technology, and besides everybody knew that those upstart companies weren’t really serious. Yes, we’re in the red, but if you look back, we had our reasons for making those decisions. Now, let’s not get into the blame game.

Sure, we encouraged a speculative bubble in housing that has destabilized everything that uses a dollar sign: households, banks, cities, the whole national economy. But we had our reasons. GDP was increasing and people were getting monster bonuses! You can’t fool around with the genius of the market. And sure, those regulations on banks had been there since the 1930s, but as you can see, there was no way we could know they were still useful. In retrospect, you can see what we were thinking, right?

Are all the young people and businesses in our state leaving? That’s because of structural factors that are beyond our control. We didn’t necessarily encourage economic development or give reasons for the next generation of talent to stay, but that’s not actually in my job title. We can’t be held responsible for the “foot loose and fancy-free” young kids who don’t even have loyalty to us! Why are they leaving? I don’t know, but I’m sure they have their reasons…

Why did companies like Google create new ways of using information while using new, massively profitable business models? Why do some nations invest for their futures while others consign themselves to the also-rans of history?

Why do some leaders think about future trends and act early?

They have their reasons.