According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, nearly half of the companies on Inc. magazine’s 2008 list of fastest-growing companies were founded in a recession or bear market. Fifty-seven percent of the Fortune 500 companies were founded during downturns, an above-average number of them during the Great Depression. Instability forces change.
In fact, most of the biggest brands in the world today are vulnerable. Most people simply don’t trust them. It’s tough to get 96 percent of Americans to agree on anything. But according to a 2009 Harris poll, that’s the number that agree Wall Street, major banks, and credit card companies are dishonest and can’t be trusted. Only 14 percent now trust big business, period.
My take on all this?
1. Individuals as well as organizations can be greedy.
2. Individuals as well as organizations can live beyond their means.
3. The current economic crisis is somewhere between the end of its beginning and the beginning of its end.
4. It has created both perils and opportunities.
5. Those who focus only on perils will forfeit opportunities.
6. Those who focus only on opportunities will fall victim to perils.
7. Prudence urges “pruning” all non-essentials while leveraging resources only where they will have the greatest ROI.
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