We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis…our entire economy is in danger… these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly. There has been a widespread loss of confidence… without immediate action America can slip into a major financial panic. President George W. Bush

This is not just an inconvenience: it is the most significant financial crisis in our lifetime, perhaps all time. It will affect spending and economic activity. It will affect the unemployment rate. It will affect real incomes. It will affect everybody's standard of living… It's about the overall performance of the U.S. economy over perhaps a period of years. The choking up of credit is like taking away the life blood away from the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

How to Succeed in a Challenging Economy

John SpenceFlycaster & Company

Culture of…Continuous Innovation

Extreme Customer FocusKiazen + VOC

1. Measure Key Drivers Relentlessly

Do you have a “dashboard” of the top 5 or 6 things that TRULY measure the health, vitality and long-term success of your business? And, are you looking at it every single day?

2. Do you have a clear and well-communicated “Survival Plan” for success in the next 18-24 months?

Jack Welch

Surveys Lunches Phone calls Emails Trade shows Events Letters Associations Customer panels Partner data Advisory boards Web forums

4. Be ProactiveMeet the customer where they are.Give them exactly what they want… now!Quality - Cheap - Fast… pick two.Quality + Value + Fast + Superb Service = Great Total Experience.Find great partners. N=1/R=GDeliver consistently superior customer service.Make it a wonderful buying experience.Be “Professionally Aggressive.”Hope is NOT a strategy!

Anne MulcahyCEO of Xerox and the third most powerful woman in the world!

Build a network of great relationships with people who want to see you succeed.

You don’t have all of the answers, so ask for help and advice from the smartest people you can find.

Learn to be a learner.Listen intently to your employees and to

your customers.

5. Only Top Talent

As you read the following GE leadership values…

Are passionately focused on driving customer success. Live Six Sigma quality, ensuring that the customer is always its first

beneficiary, and using that concept to accelerate growth. Insist on excellence, and are intolerant of mediocrity or bureaucracy. Act in a boundaryless fashion, always searching for and applying the very

best ideas regardless of origin. See change for the positive growth opportunities it brings. Create a clear, simple, customer-centered vision, and continually renew and

refresh its execution. Create an environment that stretches excitement, informality and trust;

rewards improvements; and celebrates results. Demonstrate—always with infectious enthusiasm for the customer—the

“Four E’s” of GE leadership: the personal Energy to welcome and deal with the speed of change; the ability to create an atmosphere that Energizes others; the Edge to make the difficult decisions; and the ability to consistently Execute…

GE leaders, always with unyielding integrity:

What Inhibits Execution?National Survey of 4,000 Senior Executives

4. Inability to work together as an effective team (21%)3. Company culture that allows mediocrity (23%)2. Economic climate (29%)1. Holding onto the past / unwillingness to face and

embrace CHANGE (35%)

Where are we going + How will we behave on the way.

FocusDifferentiation

All stakeholders + guiding collation

Vision + ValuesStrategyPlansGoals / ObjectivesTactics / Actions

Clear / consistent / relentless

Training +time / money /

supplies / people

Measure / TrackOver-communicate

Transparency Renewal

Praise + Celebration

andEliminate Mediocrity

Six Steps to Survival and Success:

1. Measure Key Drivers Relentlessly2. Create a Focused “Survival” Plan3. Own the Voice of the Customer4. Be Proactive5. Only Top Talent6. Disciplined Execution

1,600 companies – down to eight essential management practices:

1. A sharply focused, clearly communicated and well-understood strategy for growth.

2. Flawless operational execution that consistently delivers the focused value proposition.

3. A performance-oriented culture that does not tolerate mediocrity.4. A fast, flexible, flat organization that reduces bureaucracy and

simplifies work.5. Talent = find and keep the best people – release poor performers.6. Key leaders show 100% commitment and enthusiasm for the

business.7. Embrace strategic innovation look for new ways to compete and

succeed.8. Master the power of partnerships – with customers, vendors and

employees.

…chaos brings opportunity

For those that are prepared…