In Focus: A positive reaction
Learning from the downturn is vital, says Midlands Business Insider editor Sam Metcalf.
Whilst sitting in the cosy confines of the RBS offices in Lincoln earlier month, I came across someone who was convinced that the ongoing problems of the economy could be attributed to one thing: the press.
"Shut down the television, newspapers and internet for six months and we'd all be more confident," said this well-respected member of the local business community. I'm not sure that newspapers groups, television companies or, more profoundly, those who trade over the internet would agree with him, but since the crash in 2008, this has been a theme that's been revisited more times than I care to mention.
Most don't realise they're actually saying these things to the media – and that's a conundrum they have to deal with immediately, by either charming their way out of it by saying that, obviously, Insider doesn't deal in the negative all the time, or by changing the subject rather rapidly.
Either way, it's a strange thing to hear.
I've been reporting for Insider for five years now, and, apart from the first 18 months, we've been covering the fall-out from the Lehman implosion and the ripples that followed throughout the developed world.
Of course, there have been bad news stories (at one point in early 2009 it seemed that every day brought more doom, I seem to remember), and it would be totally remiss of us to neglect or ignore them. But if you take a look at our front covers over the last three years, Insider has always tried to accentuate the positive.
Those positives are no more vividly portrayed than when putting together the December issue of Insider, where we feature our 2011 Rich List and find that far from tycoons throwing their money away in desperation, the rich in the Midlands are actually getting richer, and, all things being equal, should continue to be the wealth generators in the region.
Also in December's, we reveal the winners of our Made in the Midlands Awards. It's been an absolute pleasure working on these inaugural awards, and I think we've all learned a lot. Manufacturing is the exemplar when it comes to not only surviving downturns, but powering through them, and our winners, those shortlisted, and everyone who entered the awards deserve many congratulations.
Finally this month, we also reveal the winners of this year's West Midlands Property Awards. If any industry suffered during the recession it was property, and so we feel incredibly proud that we can continue to honour those who continue to pull off deals in what is still an incredibly tough market.
There is no doubt that 2011 has been another tricky year, and many think 2012 won't be much better, but what we'll carry on doing at Insider is highlighting the positives whilst also touching on where it went wrong. Learning from our mistakes surely means we can prepare better for the future.
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