Permission to Think

Permission to Think
There exists a perceived malaise across the country that has become a part of our culture and overtaken every aspect of our lives the past 20 years (perhaps longer). We have gone from innovative survivors of two world wars, a depression, near collapse of our economy in the 1970s and early 1980s, to a fat and happy populace.

Our recent complacency, expectations, and even arrogance seem to scream entitlement to the rest of the world. Indeed we have shifted from being prepared for what may come to telling the world that we will not allow an early arrival because we are Americans.

Where else in the world can you unilaterally declare a war over, a disease abated, or a job saved? We have gone from hardware, technology, and Internet innovators (all demanded by the world) to illusory financial instrument creators (so complex and illusive not even the creators knew their value add or use).

We have shifted from wealth creation through innovation to bail-out suppliers and revenue assessors. Rather than creating wealth the old fashioned way, we legislate or borrow it and assume it will all work out in the end.

The subject of this book deals broadly with the need to shift our paradigm as Americans. We need to look at some of the fundamental economic principles that have been lost along the way (i.e. as prices go up, demand for a product goes down, so why would we guarantee labor unions higher salaries and promise greater demand for their products, with the assumption it will all work out in the end ?).

We can no longer seek only upside benefits without assuming downside risk, thinking that we can always shift our challenges (blame) along the way to other countries, governments, or people.

As a country, too often we feel entitled to economic success. If that is the case, we must earn such reverence through innovation and production, rather than spending and indebtedness. To do this, we must first learn to embrace what is real (not just what we are told), act on what we can, and change what we must.

This book should help the reader say, "this makes a lot of sense. I get it and now I know what to do."

David L. Buckner is the President of Bottom Line Training and Consulting Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in executive management development and business acumen training with a consultative focus on cultural integration and change management.

Mr. Buckner has been responsible for designing, developing, and delivering business critical training to executives, managers, and multi-national organizations across the globe. The Bottom Line Mini MBA is the cornerstone of the Bottom Line training curriculum and was recently featured in BusinessWeek and recognized for its ability to deliver critical cost-effective education in challenging economic times.

For more than 20 years Mr. Buckner has been a keynote speaker, author, and featured trainer at business conferences and conventions throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Far East. His passionate, practical, engaging and timely approach to complex issues sets him apart from other keynote educators and has established him as a highly regarded and frequently requested conference and convention contributor.

Mr. Buckner also provides economic analysis for the Fox Business Network and is a frequent guest on the Fox News Network’s® Glenn Beck Show. Most notably, Mr. Buckner was a featured speaker for the American Management Association Pacific Rim Millennium Executive Summit with Peter Drucker.

Mr. Buckner joined Columbia University in 1997 as an Adjunct Faculty member where he has received the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching. He is an Associate Professor and teaches graduate business courses for the Department of Organizational Psychology and Leadership at Teachers College - Columbia University. He has also taught undergraduate business courses at Stern School of Business at NYU.

He received his Juris Doctorate Degree from J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, holds an MBA from Durham University, England, and an MA in International Relations from the Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU.