Murphy's Law: Outside Looking In
Murphy's Law: Outside Looking In
I am a prolific reader. I think it is a good thing. It helps me bring ideas, constructs and strategies to our laboratory profession that I might not have thought of. On a flight recently, I read a very timely article in Inc. Magazine, The Ultimate Business Tune Up For Times Like These. It was subtitled with: 23 things you can do right now to energize your employees, wow your customers and get your business back on track. There were 23 brief ideas from CEO’s of many well known companies (Boston Chicken, Intuit-Quicken, Sharper Image, Whole Foods, Patagonia and even Michigan’s own Zingerman’s). I will not bore you will all 23 suggestions, but here are a few of the best for our profession.
- If you Cut, Cut Deeply
- Be a Mensch
- Listen, Really Listen
- Be Brutally Honest
- Get Serious about Service
- Plan for the Upturn
Recall that these are indeed difficult times. Many laboratories I have spoken to are down in 2008 over 2007. Do Not Despair or PANIC. We have been here before and we will be here again. I know the credit markets give this recession/bear market a bit of a twist, but our economy is truly cyclical. We have had some 14 bear markets and/or recessions since WWII. The average recession length is 14 months and the equity adjustment around 37 percent. Sound familiar? In the bear market of 2000-2002, the S&P fell almost 50 percent. In 1987 unemployment was higher than it is now in Michigan (10.7 percent). This is not a depression. During that period, market value fell 90 percent (no that is not a typo) and unemployment hovered near 27 percent for years. Thousands lost their bank deposits because there was no FDIC insurance.
Many of you know I am an optimistic realist. 2009 will be a tough year, that is for sure. The Steelers won the Super Bowl and historically, the market has gone up 25 percent on average the previous five times they prevailed.
What are you doing to react to the current situation and prepare for the next? Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space we get to exercise our greatest power as human beings, our power to choose. To choose how we feel and how we will react to that stimulus. Exercise your power, choose well.
