Paul Krugman Says The Economic Sky is Falling. Maybe Right.
I’ve mentioned Paul Krugman before. He’s one smart guy, and I’m not at all embarrassed to admit that he’s operating in an intellectual space that I’ve not only never visited but don’t even have an apt name for.
And Obama-administration-adviser-and-New-York-Times-Economist Paul Krugman says we’re in a Depression. Not just a recession, you understand . . . a full-blown depression.
The Status quo is broken. Change is here, and the only question is whether you’re going to enact business change fast enough and well enough to remain a “have” in a world more and more frequented by have-nots.
Let me begin by saying that just because Paul Krugman says we’re in a depression doesn’t mean it’s so. But if we look at the evidence he cites and conclude that he’s right, or even close, we have no choice but take swift and serious steps. So if this is a depression, what should your business change be?
HEADS UP: what follows can sound like a commercial for The Computer Answer Guy, PC-VIP, and Virtual VIP. And by definition it is. But that’s coincidence. It’s tough being smart! ;-)
In Paul Krugman’s depression-addled world, business is changing. In fact, everything is changing, but let’s focus on business. Sure, the big guys will find ways to leverage their positions, and a good number of them won’t have to adapt any more than they do in times of prosperity; they make the calls, and we all get dragged along.
But the little guy is facing something different. When every step you make has the potential to have huge impact on your success, you have to re-think the way you operate your business and the way you move.
You have to cut costs, even as you expand.
If that means farming out work, you do it. If that means traveling less and still communicating, you do that.
It means you have to change.
With free videoconferencing so easy to set up and use the traveling less part is easy, of course, and anyone who’s ever traveled on business will tell you that doing less of it is a win, not a loss. And despite the US Government’s newest attempt to make it harder, farming out out your work can be easy too, but you have to think about what that means.
Hiring good contractors is even harder than hiring good employees. Virtual VIP et.al. make it easier, and save you from many of the consequences of the pending new employment law. And All Of That Is About Efficiency. Use a cliché like “work smarter, not harder”, if you like; the point is that if a depression really is here, and people really are going to see the kinds of changes that Paul Krugman is warning us about, then business change is unavoidable.
Jump in. Business Change may not be easy or fun, but it’s your friend. And in this “Third Depression”, it’s more important than ever.
