As I watched it recently on PBS, I thought of the lingering hardships in this economic cycle and wondered how many brilliant works of art, new inventions or breakthrough ideas are out there waiting for the dreamer to take a huge economic risk in this stagnant economy.

I remain hopeful that the solution to our present malaise is a new wave of innovation, ready for launch, including creating new green products and industries to fight global warming – and new ideas for solving the lingering environmental impact of disasters like the BP Oil spill. I only hope those young innovators have the courage of Frank Capra.

There’s another message in this film.  It was about a young woman reporter about to be fired by her editor as they streamline staff during hard times – she dreamed up a story about an angry common man threatening to jump off a building on Christmas eve and presented it to her editor as her parting shot.  He loved it, even when she admitted that she had invented John Doe, but argued he would be easy to find – she was right.  The movie’s ultimate theme was that people needed to reach out to their neighbors during the depression and help each other – and the result was a political movement of “John Doe” clubs, making sure no one was battling joblessness or foreclosure alone.

It’s a message that is timeless and I wanted to share it again.  Thank you,  Frank Capra, for sharing your serious side.

A teenage Portier was looking for another dishwashing job to survive in New York when he noticed an ad for auditions at the American Negro Theater in Harlem.  He had never thought about acting, but at the moment it seemed better than the dishwashing jobs that had barely helped him survive thus far.  He was only 16 years old and had no formal schooling, after a childhood on the impoverished Cat Island in the Carribbean and a few years in the Bahamas when his parents emigrated there.

When he showed up at the theatrical audition, he was given a script to read.  Barely literate, he still plunged ahead, but was mortified when he was cut off and admonished to leave and go look for another job as a dishwasher.  Portier left, but grew angry that someone would tell him that dishwashing was all he should aspire to in life.  That anger and an offer of reading lessons from a colleague at a restaurant job made him decide to go back. When he was rejected a second time, he offered free janitor services in exchange for acting classes and eventually got the breakthrough he needed with an understudy role in a play. Even then, there was no overnight success: It took years of struggle and self-education to gain the polish that led to his famous roles.

Portier credits his success to an inner sense of self-worth and stubbornness, the product of core values instilled by his parents. He believed he could do it.  The next time you face rejection in any aspect of marketing your career and get discouraged, remember the odds that Portier faced and overcame with such grace. And then smile and try again.

The documentary focuses on a public school where young African American girls who are pregnant or already young mothers are taught agricultural skills on the school’s own

Farm, located where the playground used to be.  The students are learning by farming to become more independent women and knowledgeable about the importance of nutritional foods. They are also learning to make honey, since the bee population, almost extinct in America, is flourishing in Detroit. The extensive variety of native flowers on the vacant lots and the lack of pesticides make Detroit’s unique environment perfect for a very pure, organic honey production.

On their website at http://grownindetroit.filmmij.nl/,  the filmmakers talk about how they have grown in love with Detroit and its residents. Sure, they admit, Detroit could be in a better shape but they argue that it’s one of the few cities left in the region with such beautiful architecture, history, community spirit and abundant nature.  Too bad most of this country only believes the Murder Capital headlines – I prefer the optimistic view of the Poppenks and that after the most tragic circumstances, we can learn from our failures and help each other to start all over again.

Consider the auto industry. I grew up in a prosperous Detroit back when General Motors was the greatest corporation in the world. It was with great pain that I watched the inner-city burn and the population flee following the race riots in the late 60’s. The central city has never recovered because its fate has been so linked to the troubled American auto industry.

I had an opportunity recently to get some unique observations from the competition on why the Detroit auto industry was doomed to flame out so spectacularly and destroy the local economy.

Carlos Ghosn, the Chairman and CEO of Renault Nissan Alliance spoke at the French Institute on how his successful career has been shaped by his global outlook.  Ghosn was born in Brazil, of French and Lebanese heritage. His education was in France and his early career was forged at Michelin, a French company.  In the late 90’s he was able to step in and turn around a troubled Nissan Corporation.  Ghosn explained that because he had a nomadic upbringing and was not rooted in one place, he was also not stuck in the mind-frame of one culture. He felt he was able to successfully lead a Japanese company because they also had no preconceived biases against him. Yet as an outsider, he could more readily see their mistakes.

So why, he was asked, did the Japanese eventually overtake the Americans in their trademark industry?  Simple, he replied – the Japanese studied the American competition closely, but the American automakers did not study their Japanese competitors or even seem to realize they should be worried about their strategies until it was too late.  Constantly analyze and learn from your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, Ghosn warned.

As I watch the American automobile industry rebuild, I hope this is one mistake they have learned and are not destined to repeat.

More recently, our country was still reeling from the September 11 attacks when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod in October 2001. It became one of the decade’s biggest success stories. In fact, the success of Apple’s handheld devices just this week resulted in its anointment as the new leader in technology, overtaking Microsoft as the world’s most valuable technology company. What if Apple had not taken that tremendous marketing risk in uncertain times?  It’s easy to forget that before the introduction of the ipod, Apple was believed to be on the path to extinction.

These success stories are important to remember as today’s business owners face difficult choices on whether to push forward or wait.  The American economy is turning around, but new turmoil in Europe is clouding the future, making it hard to guess the pace of the recovery as we go through global adjustments. The massive oil spill in the Gulf is just the latest environmental disaster that will impact our future economically. Still, one thing is clear – we will eventually turn around and there will be many winners and losers.  If you have a great idea or a new product, now may just be the right time to let go of your fears and help shape a brighter future!

Sandra also revealed that she has pursued her artistic passion without an agent, business manager or even an assistant while happily married to a college sweetheart and now raising four children on a Connecticut farm.  As she explained, she just never doubted from the beginning that her cards would sell.

While Boynton has always been successful, Shay Kelley had to lose her marketing job and then her home before she discovered the level of belief that has led to a unique quest she has dubbed Project 50/50. (http://bit.ly/bQRbUF) As Kelley told CNN, she went off into the woods and started yelling at God for leaving her in despair. “I was like, just tell me what my purpose is, tell me why I’m here and if you’ll just tell me, I’ll work harder than for anything I have ever worked for anything else in my entire life.”

According to CNN,  Kelley had her answer within weeks: Travel to all 50 states in 50 weeks. Collect canned goods for charities along the way and take a ton of pictures, ie Project 50/50.

She waited tables and lived with friends to collect the money for an old Ford pickup truck and hit the road with a camera and her dog ZuZu.  She started a facebook page to chronicle her travels and her discovery that the homeless she’s met along the way are often astoundingly generous. As she puts it, through her photos, she captures people down on their luck, but not ready to give up. She says it has made her own uncertain future easier to deal with.

Both stories are vastly different profiles of women passionately pursuing a dream with total belief in the certainty of the outcome.  In terms of business, many young graduates in particular forget about the relationship between belief and success.  Passion makes your work stand out and get noticed and belief gets you through the hard times.  For anyone struggling in this bumpy economy, it is an important link to remember!

I was mesmerized.  Of course, I know girls have been playing soccer for a long time now. But watching these particular girls suddenly took me back to my pony-tailed childhood when there was very little encouragement for a girl in team sports.  I grew up with two brothers and until the age of 12, I played baseball and street hockey with my older brother Bill and his friends, and chased around with them on our bikes. In grade school, the girls were taught basketball, not a sport where I excelled, but at least a lot of running was involved. However I’ll never forget the summer when my mother took me aside and said I was too old to play with my brother. I needed to be a young lady.  I tried playing tennis with my girlfriend, but it never became a passion for me the way team games had been.  And the next year I started an honors high school where phys ed was a low priority.

I sat there wondering if my teenage years would have been a lot less painful if girls had played soccer in my Detroit hometown.  As a teenager I felt very isolated, but I realize now that the lack of team sports to channel my natural teenage anxieties and fears helped fuel a major depression by junior year.  My life continued to be a see saw of minor health crises throughout college. I always bounced back, but I didn’t get my exuberant childhood health back until I joined a food coop in my late 20s, discovering biking, running and organic foods. So many of the successful women I’ve known have kept up their dedication to sports and fitness; often that commitment comes from an exposure to team sports when they were young. Men have more readily recognized that link between physical fitness and business success.

As I left the bench and the soccer playing girls, I felt so happy for them. Go, girls!

I’ve been through enough bad economies on both coasts to know the experts don’t have crystal balls.  How many predicted accurately in the boom times that the excesses of the market would lead to such worldwide havoc?  And if we look back a year from now, how many would have been accurate on the rate of recovery?

The answer is that it is the strength and optimism of the American culture that keeps pulling us out of the latest disaster.  For me, the secret to that optimism has been involvement in my Brooklyn community and in organizations like NAWBO-NYC, Team Women and Connecting to Greatness, whose leaders are forging ahead with entrepreneurial zeal.  Their energy keeps refueling my own enthusiasm.

For more inspiration, I suggest reading a few books to keep your eye on the future, not riveted on the current headlines.

Black and White Strike Gold by Sandi Webster and Peggy McHale is “the essential manual for creating and running a successful business,” and includes a brutally honest look at the daily trials, tribulations and–oh yes, the joys–of being a small business owner.  The Fearless Factor: Overcome the Fears, Doubts, and Anxieties that Stop you from being your Best Self Now by Jacqueline Wales, shows you how to turn off your fear and turn on the confidence.  Laughter, Tears, Silence: Expressive Meditations to Calm Your Mind and Open Your Heart by Pragito Dove is “full of rich lessons in the nature of living a great life.”

Now smile!

Rachel Alexandra, who won the Preakness and was undefeated in eight starts last year, won Horse of the Year honors in January over Zenyatta. Yet this weekend Rachel faced her first defeat – after a six month layoff – at the New Orleans Ladies Stakes.  For anyone unfamiliar with thoroughbred racing, this level of competition between two ladies is unprecedented!

Before the upset, the two super horses were supposed to face off in a race for the ages at the $5 million Apple Blossom invitational on April 9 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.  According to the New York Times, Rachel’s co-owner Jess Jackson began hedging his bets a week ago when he said he would send his filly to Arkansas only if she were dead-solid perfect.  After this weekend’s race, trainer Steve Asmusssen said they would reassess their filly’s schedule.

All this drama just underlines the ironies of our times.  The economy may be still struggling, and it’s often hard to find good news,  but history is being made on the nation’s racetracks by two unlikely heroines.

What an unusual and exciting twist for Women’s History Month!

In California, (first LA, then San Francisco) most friends held traditional New Year’s Eve events where we stayed up until midnight, sharing appetizers and champagne. My late husband Tim and I joined them – it was great fun, after all — but then got up early to host our Hoppin John event on New Year’s Day (or the first weekend day afterwards). This afternoon event was a celebration of good, healthy southern food (black-eyed peas and rice with greens), friendship and sharing our hopes for the coming year. We encouraged friends to bring their kids and their guitars.  Tim was from Alabama and he loved to share his southern traditions and play southern blues on the piano.  By the time we left the west coast, our event had become rather legendary and had spawned other regionally themed events among our friends.

Amazingly, lots of our best client leads came from the friends who shared the good cheer of Hoppin John or tasted some of the southern Green Top bar-b-que we had flown in as a summer treat.  I continue Hoppin John celebrations in my Brooklyn neighborhood primarily as a way to introduce my friends from the Flatbush Food Coop board to friends in my coop building and it still works magic.

Networking authentically actually doesn’t have to involve food or entertaining, if that is not your passion – but it should involve sharing your genuine passions with everyone you meet, whether it’s your family, sports, music, or anything else that connects you to others.  And if you start the conversation by finding out what they are passionate about, you are really on the right track to a friendship.

Hoppin John, anyone?

For great networking, check out these groups (listed alphabetically):

Kate Gaffin’s Connecting to Greatness, www.connectingtogreatness.com.

National Association of Women Business Owners, New York City, www.nawbonyc.org

TeamWomen, New York Chapter, www.teamwomennyc.com