Economic cycles and trends

An entire generation’s prosperity vanishing, food stamp use exploding. Welcome to the jobless future. This month’s jobs numbers drive home the point. The unemployment rate fell at the fastest rate for years — great news, right? Wrong. The lion’s share of the gains came from (wait for it) “temporary help services.” See what just happened? […]

It’s become the mantra of the moment: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” Leaders everywhere are struggling to make sense of the worldwide economic crisis, to learn lessons that will guide them and their companies going forward. My worry is that too many leaders are learning the wrong lessons — they are becoming […]

It's about knowing how to reallocate - and deallocate - resources.

This post is part of HBR's special issue on failure. Gary Wendt, CEO of GE Capital during its heyday, once said to me that the secret of his continuing...

The 2008 recession is an economic firestorm unlike anything the country has seen since the Great Depression. But 2009 is shaping up to be a trigger for an unprecedented surge of innovation that may be one of the most important turning points in the last 100 years. While things are undoubtedly more difficult these days, […]

While the global economy began slowing down in late 2007, forces transforming the face of business trace back more than a decade. Over that time period, technological improvements have made it ever easier to start and scale a business. Convergence went from being a cliché to a reality. Companies from countries like China, India, and […]

The country invests more in R&D than anyone, but it needs manufacturing, too.

Last month, I sat down with editor extraordinaire Sarah Green to discuss much of what we’ve been talking about here during the last few months: the zombieconomy, the changing nature of advantage, and thriving during the downturn. Here’s our discussion, edited a bit for length. Enjoy! Download this podcast

Our horizons have narrowed.

There's more to progress than technological innovation.

Being neither an ardent football fan nor an economist, I nonetheless find much of my news absorption these days dominated either by the Super Bowl (yes, I am from New England) or the possibility of a looming recession. So, if you’ll allow me this week, I’ll offer my reflections on those two pending events. There […]

Employers need to help people afford and access the care they need.

More volume does not make a bad guitar player better – only louder and more obnoxious. Likewise, more technology can amplify a business – but if it’s not properly managed, it can boost losses just as easily as gains. Just consider the current mortgage crisis. Bank of America’s purchase of the once highflying Countrywide for […]

Target a specific community and scale from there.

This is post 2 in a series of blog posts from downturn strategist Darrell Rigby and fellow partners at Bain & Company. We will walk you through the tools and strategies you need to survive the current downturn and to improve your competitive position. To go deeper and complement these posts, we will provide early […]

A framework for government and corporate leaders in the U.S.

Do meaningful stuff that matters the most: it's my mantra for a movement dedicated to toppling the old order, and seeding a better economy instead. So...

Recent news coverage of the cosmetic name change from AIG to AIU at the failed company’s New York headquarters reminds us that a brand is a precious asset. The value of any brand asset depends upon whether it has delivered on its past promises and is believed likely to do so in the future. It […]

I’ve never become more than a modestly competent skier – capable of safely negotiating most intermediate slopes, but frankly way over my head when I venture onto anything more difficult. Slopes with deep moguls, ice, or the dreaded diamond are, well, nerve-wracking. When I start down, with the ground dropping away under my feet and […]

Warning: This is my first post of 2009, so please excuse the length. You know things are dire when one of the country’s most influential columnists devotes several articles (and a new book) to parallels between what’s happening now and the Great Depression. Here’s Nobel laureate Paul Krugman in his latest New York Times column: […]