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Less than a week into 2009 and I’ve already had enough of the downbeat, dour and depressing articles on this year’s economic prospects.
You could be forgiven for thinking that everyone will be out of work in the next few months and that there will no longer be any customers for your businesses.
As managers and leaders of your organisations you have two choices in the face of such projections. The first option is to accept the worst, do nothing and wait for the bad news about job cuts to appear in your in-box.
The alternative is to make things happen. Even the most pessimistic forecasts suggest that the UK economy will still be in excess of £1trn in 2009 -- so there must still be some active customers out there somewhere.
The economic turmoil has brought dramatic change to many markets, but change also creates opportunity. By focusing your attention on these opportunities you will have a much better chance of improving the performance of your organisation.
Tesco, for instance, has turned the increase in price-based competition from Lidl and Aldi into the driving force for its new Discounter range.
To exploit these new opportunities requires an entrepreneurial spirit, an innovation mindset and a willingness to take prudent risks.
In fact taking prudent risk may be less risky than doing nothing, both on a personal and corporate level, in 2009.
Woolworths’ demise can be linked to its shareholders’ and managers’ unwillingness to risk major change, even though it had been in decline for two decades.
As management guru Peter Drucker once wrote, "People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year; people who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year."
So, are you willing to exploit new opportunities, take some risks and enjoy the year of living dangerously? After all, what’s the worst that can happen?
(Photo: Roy Blumenthal, CC2.0)
posted by Stuart Cross
January 6, 2009 @ 4:11 am
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