1. Understanding the Greatest Challenge for Managers
The current state of the global economy has created new challenges for
companies all over the world. This has led to executive decisions being made
out of panic, such as firing quality employees and slashing important
programs. Regardless of their efforts, many companies have seen
plummeting revenue streams, sometimes being forced out of business
altogether.
It may surprise you, but I actually believe that the greatest challenge in this
economy is avoiding the mistake of blaming everything on the economy. It
is easy for managers and executives to wring their hands and say, “This is the
worst economy we have had in 80 years, and that is why my company has all
of these problems.” To a certain extent, they are right. Yet that type of
thinking does not lead to solutions.
What if the economy never improves very much? Take Japan for example:
they have been stuck with an anemic economy for decades now. Of course I
know the tsunami didn’t help much either. Yet within that environment, some
Japanese companies have excelled while others have withered or accepted the
status quo.
Is the sale of Apple products like the iPad or the iPhone 4G suffering from
the economy? Considering the fact that people will wait in line for 12 hours
to get them, I imagine not. People will wait in line that long to buy
something that they really want.
So how can you offer something that people will want regardless of the
economy? The first step is to wake up and realize that things will never
improve for your company until you do something to make it happen. You
can figure out how to improve your products or find new markets – maybe
even create new markets – where you can outthink, outsell and outperform
your competitors. Is there a problem in your industry that everyone
recognizes but no one is fixing? Fix it!

2. Once you have convinced yourself that new opportunities in a recession are
possible, you just have to convince everyone else with whom you work.
And that is the real challenge of this economy.
Reference Link: http://www.theicpm.com/blog/item/4651-understanding-the-
greatest-challenge-for-managers