The Bright Side of the Recession

Think about it!

Who cares about the collapse of ’29? You weren’t there. And while you can study it and take lessons from it, you cannot experience it.

But this one you can. This depression is your depression. And you’re feeling the pain at every turn. You’re the one who had to cut staff to the bone. You’re the one who has to manage the finances to hold things together. You’re the one who enters an empty parking lot every day and who sees the faces of your closest associates who are no longer here. You’re the one who has to figure out how to keep the ship afloat – what’s left of it – until the market returns. Well, you’re certainly learning a lot now, and there is more to learn – about opportunities you’ve never had before, opportunities that no other leaders in the history of your company ever had.


With the bulk of your employees gone, you have before you a virtually clean sheet of paper. You can redesign the entire company to prepare it for a true renaissance.

Think about it. Things are stable. You’re wounded, for sure, but you’re stable. Revenues, such as they are, are higher than expenses. You’re at a point where your sales force is pursuing every lead and you are confident that you’ll soon be closing more sales. Now, turn your attention to the things that you wish you could have done but were constrained to do by the great economy that had you running full out: things like revamping the plant, move equipment, literally, to gain greater efficiencies and slash costs; looking at your employees and asking “Do we really have the right people in the right roles?” Are there some people that we should not bring back?”

Sounds mercenary, and you are repulsed by those thoughts.

But there will never be another chance in your lifetime to recreate your company, to make it into the model for the future – and to create the team that will do it.


• Re-Think your past assumptions
• Organization structure
• Assess Jobs and Employees
• Communications/IT/Internet
• Plant and equipment
• Processes
• Affiliations
• Re-write your Future
• Make the Really Tough Decisions
• Execute

Re-Think your past assumptions

Are the markets we serve the markets we should remain in?
Are some better than others and, if so, should we be placing our bets there?
Are there other alternative markets for what we make? (If we make things for the military, can there also be a place for us in the retail market?)
If we private label, is there an opportunity for us to brand ourselves? (Orville Reddenbacher)
Have we been limiting our markets?
What are we truly good at, and where does that fit in today’s market?

Organization Structure
Are we right for the times? (Centralized vs. Decentralized)
Are we sized right?
How do we make and implement decisions?
Are we too closed?
How ‘open/transparent’ are we to customers/suppliers?
Do our internal operations support our needs
Can we do it better?


Jobs and Employees
Are some jobs obsolete?
Have we been fair to ourselves and our employees?
Have we done a global assessment of the workforce?
How do we view training and its timing?
How do we select from prospects for key jobs/critical roles?


Communications/IT/Internet
Are we ‘real-time’ in all areas?
Are we as visible to the marketplace as we need be?
Are we accessible, easy to do business with?
How fast can we share info?
Where are the silos?
Do our communications give us strategic advantages?


Plant and Equipment
How streamlined are we, really?
Can we be better?
Is it time to change out equipment?
Is outsourcing right for us instead?

Processes
Are we doing things right, or are there better ways?
Can we do things radically different?
Are we challenging ourselves enough?
Do we think like investors?

Affiliations
Are we suppliers or partners?
Can we strengthen our supplier relationships?
Can we integrate into the supplier chain?
Do we complement our customers strengths?