So after Friday’s budget in the UK, I will be several thousand pounds better off in the next year both from stamp duty savings on buying my next house and from reduced income tax rates. Oh, and a low GBP USD rate is good for me in multiple ways. Yay me!
Wait though. I’m also upset, frustrated, and downcast at the ghastly budget that is economically illiterate (it will not grow the economy) and, frankly, immoral. It will make the rich richer while making life even harder for over 90% of society. What is the point in having more money if it means living in a society that votes for a government that doesn’t care about anyone other than the rich? I thought the UK government could do no worse than Boris Johnson and his cabinet, but no.
Oh. and the chart above shows how the pound has crashed against the US Dollar in recent months, then lost 3% in value in the hours after the Budget announcement on Friday morning. It currently sits at the lowest rate in 37 years. 37 years.
Oh, did I mention that I am against private schools but sent my children to one?
Do these conflicting thoughts make me a hypocrite? Yes. They also reflect examples of cognitive dissonance, which I’d loosely define as the ability to hold two or more contradictory thoughts at the same time. All of us do this at some level, such as wanting to always have a healthy diet but then eating half a dozen IKEA Daim candy pieces just before bedtime (as I did last night!). Psychologists often note that cognitive dissonance takes a toll on us mentally. Perhaps, and also I can see that this can also be a space for learning as long as we can be aware that we are facing it.
Let’s say you are a business leader facing a recession (hardly hypothetical right now, I know!). You are and always have been focussed on the people in your organisation and then on providing excellent service to your customers. At the same time, you now know you need to cut costs to have the strength to see yourself through the recession, so cutting jobs from the team and also reducing service standards. These contradictory thoughts will absolutely take a toll on you mentally as a leader given that you care for your people and customers. One silver lining of cognitive dissonance though is that it will very much focus your mind on how best to serve both masters, to do what you can to cut costs while still looking after your people and customers.