The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times

The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times

by Geoff Colvin
The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times

The Upside of the Downturn: Management Strategies for Difficult Times

by Geoff Colvin

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Overview

Never waste a crisis.
Some businesses—and some people—will emerge from today’s economic tumult stronger and more dominant than when it started. Others will weaken and fade. It all depends on critical choices they make right now.

Geoff Colvin, one of America’s most respected business jour-nalists, says even the scariest turbulence has an upside. The best managers know that conventional thinking won’t help them in tough times. They’re taking smart, practical steps—frequently unconventional and even counterintuitive—that will not only keep them strong, but will also distance them from the pack for years to come.

The dozens of top-performing leaders Colvin interviewed reject the common view that slashing costs and firing employ­ees are the only effective tactics. They see volatility as a rich opportunity to reinvent their organizations and lay the ground-work for future growth.

Colvin shows us how these strategies really work, using exam-ples of major companies that have successfully applied them.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101100820
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 06/25/2009
Sold by: Penguin Group
Format: eBook
Pages: 192
File size: 610 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

GEOFF COLVIN, Fortune's senior editor at large, writes its popular column "Value Driven." He lectures widely and is the regular lead moderator for the Fortune Global Forum. He also offers daily business commentary on the CBS Radio Network. His first book, Talent Is Overrated, earned international acclaim and was a Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and New York Times business bestseller.

Table of Contents

1 The Greatest Opportunity: Why difficult times are so rich with possibilities 1

2 The New Normal: The strange story of how we got here and what it means 10

3 Reset Priorities: The critical first response to a radically new reality 25

4 Protect Your Most Valuable Asset: It's your people-yet they're often valued the least 41

5 Engage the Outside World: All your relationships are changing-so take control of the process 56

6 Reexamine Your Strategy and Business Model: The importance of knowing what you must change-and what you must not 72

7 Manage for Value: Most companies don't-an error that can be fatal when times turn tough 87

8 Create New Solutions for Customers' New Problems: You can do it in more ways than you may realize 100

9 Price with Courage: Don't assume you have to mark down-it's riskier than you may think 119

10 Get Fitter Faster: The right kind of operational discipline pays off powerfully in a downturn 134

11 Understand All Your Risks: Seize this moment to take a broader view of what might go wrong in your business 134

12 Don't Forget to Grow Yourself: Why difficult times are a unique opportunity fir self development 148

13 For Next Time: Getting ready for greater growth down the road-and, yes, for the downturn after that 164

Index 173

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Even as businesses prepare for difficult times they must keep an eye on the long term, trimming the fat but not the muscle and sometimes spending where it makes sense. Colvin has defined a new genre of management book: the bust-buster.”
—RICHARD DONKIN, Financial Times

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