Looking back to move forward

Maya Angelou said, “No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.”

As citizens of our community, let us reflect on Sen. Maria Frica T. Pangelinan comments in last Friday’s paper. She mentioned the meager status of the islands after World War II, and then recounted the progress of the people and economy. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota have developed from a situation where there was no private sector development, a stagnant economy, and the lack of even an accredited high school education—to become a tourist destination with a once-booming economy, and offering a U.S. accredited College degree.

She encouraged us to occasionally look back to see where we have come from. This is not only good advice for the Commonwealth, but it is equally important for each of us to sometimes pause and look in our personal lives and in our businesses so we can make greater strides as we move forward.

As individuals, may we turn our thoughts this Easter toward the great sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us so that our mistakes (sins) can be forgiven. Reflecting on our past can help us remember some of the tough lessons in life that are too soon forgotten. Those who refuse to admit or learn from those mistakes are condemned to repeat them in the future; along with the accompanying pain those mistakes will continue to bring into their lives and the lives of others. All it takes is for us to look back, accept the gift, make restitution, and then move forward with the determination to not repeat the same mistakes in the future.

As business owners, let us consider the advice of Michael Dell. In 1989, Dell Computer Corp. made a massive mistake relating to inventory. In a speech to the Society of American Business Editors and Writer Technology Conference, Michael Dell said that the mistake caused them to make some improvements and “now we’re regarded as the best in our industry in inventory.” He continued, “The answer is not having a brilliant conception of all the best ideas before you start a business, but rather learning from your mistakes and not repeating them—and making sure that those lessons are passed along as the organization continues to grow.”

Learning from past mistakes is what we call experience. Realize that mistakes are inevitable because life, business, and even a young government have inherent risk. Risk is good, if it turns out good, but it can even be good if it turns out bad—if we are willing to learn from it. There is only one big risk, and that is the risk of doing nothing. Some of the biggest mistakes one can make are to not learn from past errors, and lean too much on past successes. Another big error is to let past mistakes stifle future decisions and progress. Instead, acknowledge mistakes, do what can be done to resolve it, learn from it, and then use the experience to guide you to do better as you continue to move forward.

George Santayan said: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement; and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, 1905)

There are many things happening in the CNMI and many opinions about what should or should not be done. Since this is new ground being covered in the CNMI, mistakes are likely to be made. We can’t expect our political leaders to have all the best ideas right now, but we can hope that they will learn quickly from mistakes so corrections are made and the lessons are passed along as the CNMI continues to grow.

We’d like to close with Senator Pangelinan’s remarks from last week: “The CNMI has all the elements required for a prosperous society. We have good people, a wealth of natural resources, and a functioning democracy. Mix these with a practical approach to fiscal policy, and we will move to a stable economy again. And a more experienced one.”

We do have many things to be grateful for. May we pause and look back to remember where we have been so we can make wiser choices now, and confidently move forward to better times in the future.

* * *

Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com