Dr. Henry Venter's Blog

We live in a world that’s inundated with quantity, but is sadly lacking in quality. As the people on earth multiply it seems as if there’s such a mad rush to supply all their needs that it is easily forgotten to supply quality. Gone are the days where someone took pride in how they made something – it’s now about how fast and how many we can produce in the least amount of time. Three reasons are responsible: lack of responsibility; no accountability, and uninspiring leaders.

• Responsibility and accountability has flown the coup – it’s gone!
The other day I made use of a company’s complaint line in desperation after weeks of not being able to conclude a simple transaction. I received an email that started off with the words: “As our valued customer you are very important to us.” Unfortunately, at the bottom of the email it also stated, “This is an automated message. Please do not respond to it.” Well, I didn’t, but neither did they. To this day no living person has followed up on that message to this “valued and important customer.”

• No one wants to be accountable.
In a recent article in the New York Times a journalist eloquently captured this trend in a piece about who’s to blame for the financial crisis in America (and some other parts of the world). The answer? No one! Experts he talked to hold the notion that no one could see it coming, regardless of the fact that financial analysts now look back and pinpoint where companies started to take ridiculous risks such as selling expensive homes to people without verifying their income. And then structuring the loans to escalate in repayment within a few years way above what the buyers could afford. We live in a world where you can’t even trust your financial adviser to responsibly invest your money. That pipedream went the way of people like Bernie Madoff who fraudulently embezzled billions from his trusted customers, even from his closest friends.

• Uninspiring leaders.
Democratically elected officials turned out to be another disappointment. Often it is those who run their campaigns on the basis of family values that have been shown to be the very people that had no family values and morals. And yet, it seems as if there is no end to the unscrupulous and opportunistic people seeking power. Looking around at business and political leaders today few people are inspired. In fact, looking at voter participation we have given up voting – often less than 50 % of the people actually vote.

How can we save the world?
With new leaders! There is truly a need for a new kind of person, for a new kind of leader. There’s a need for people that can be trusted, whose word is their honor, who are willing to take responsibility and lead in a new way. The world is anxiously looking for trusted visionary and inspirational leaders. Inspirational leaders are people that can transform their world, their school, their city, their state, their country and their neighborhood – wherever they emerge they produce solutions that inspire people. They are people with passion, compassion, and character. Visionary leaders are able to show the path to others, to help people prepare for the future, and bring hope and faith. That leader could be you!

And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE Ebook, “Six Vital Steps to Develop Inspirational and Visionary Leadership” when you visit our home page! In addition, you will also have access to several audio recordings and Podcasts all free.

From Henry J. Venter, Ph.D., psychologist, university professor, speaker, and author.

The year 2009 was marked by the frantic efforts of healthcare to combat the H1N1 pandemic (many disagree that it is really a pandemic, but that’s another topic). A mad dash took place (and billions of dollars spent) to create an antivirus. There is, however, a condition that is more dangerous than the H1N1 virus – LONELINESS. Research shows it is indeed already a pandemic (meaning it has already spread across the world).

Research published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that lonely people are not only socially isolated, but they tend to develop a negative belief towards everyone and anyone, thereby exacerbating their loneliness. They simply begin to view the whole world as negative. The problem is therefore not merely loneliness, but a negative mindset that slowly cuts one from anything that’s positive. And it’s not healthy – loneliness has been linked to various psychological and physical illnesses. Depression, colds, and flu’s are more prominent among lonely people.

We can each help one another to repair and build our social networks – it’s not only healthy for the lonely person, it’s healthy for all of us. Let’s make this a year to reach out to someone that lost trust in society, someone that does not expect friendliness from anyone, someone caught up in a pattern of social isolation. We all see them around us. Their cure is YOU. We are created and designed to be social – and to take care of one another.

The amazing fact is that the cure for loneliness is not an expensive antivirus – it’s simply a kind act on our part to reach out to someone that is drifting on their own. Call that person, send an email, pop a text, stop at their desk and say hello – change their world…and change yours.

Make 2010 the year to break loneliness.

Read more at my homepage – www.ginomaicc.com

My best towards your health and happiness

Dr. Henry