Leadership and Eastern European Housing

Leadership and Eastern European Housing

The online dictionary definition of Leadership:
1. The position or office of a leader: ascended to the leadership of the party.
2. Capacity or ability to lead: showed strong leadership during her first term in office.
3. A group of leaders: met with the leadership of the nation's top unions.
4. Guidance; direction: The business prospered under the leadership of the new president.

I have been in Eastern Europe for eight years now, working in the mortgage industry, or using the more politically correct term; housing finance. My first employer was a technical assistance fund sponsored by the US government, my second a large US financial company. The technical assistance funds’ interest in the mortgage market was part of a program to assist in the transition from a planned economy (communist) to a market economy (capitalist). The mortgage market, which supports the housing market was a core program with the belief that home owners make better citizens, so the benefits of our work was both economic and civic. At my latest employer, we pushed “Housing Leadership” with a communication campaign which yielded over 400 articles in the local press across the region. From 2006 through the first half of 2008, mortgage was a core product.

Well times change. Hundreds of thousands and perhaps soon millions of new capitalists are losing their home ownership during this economic cycle. The benefits of home ownership, both economic and political are retreating.

So I am left with a question; what do leaders do during a retreat?