MANAGING THROUGH THE ECONOMIC STORM

MANAGING THROUGH THE ECONOMIC STORM

Until the current crisis, there were certain immutable truths of business that executives could count on: Salaries go up, not down. The place for government in business is at the margins. Bonuses lead to better performance.

But the rules are rapidly being rewritten. Companies are cutting pay along with workers. Understanding the intricacies of government could become as critical a path to the corner office as mastering the balance sheet. And rewarding overly ambitious goals can lead to reckless risk.

As executives grapple with these new challenges, they're trying to figure out the right strategies to adapt. BusinessWeek surveyed some of its contributors to its online Managing Channel, along with other leadership thinkers, to get their views on what has changed.

ACCEPT THE VALUE OF WORK

Given the fundamental changes we're seeing in the global economy, it's inevitable that people are going to have lower expectations about finding the perfect, meaningful, and custom-fitted job. But they may develop a new appreciation for the old notion of work. This is something my parents' generation seemed to understand better than mine. To be gainfully

---

gainful·ly adv.  employed, to labor with integrity in any way for the good of customers or co-workers or family really can be its own reward. And who knows? If managers, who are themselves not immune to this decrease in idealism, decide to renew the old-fashioned commitment to treating people with greater appreciation, acknowledgment, and individual concern, we may well see an overall increase in job satisfaction.

Patrick Lencioni 

CONSULTANT AND AUTHOR OF

The Three SiGNS oF A MISERABLE JOB

INSPIRE PRINCIPLED PERFORMANCE

Managers must talk about values more than rules. They must reward not only the performance but how that performance is achieved. In a more connected world, how we relate to one another becomes critically important. Today the whole world can see deeply into our [company's] operations and make important decisions based not only on what we do but how we do it. It is important to articulate, understand, and share your values as the ultimate guide for decisions and actions. But it is more important to live those values through principled behavior.

Dov Seidman

FOUNDER AND CEO OF LRN AND AUTHOR OF HOW

GET TO KNOW GOVERNMENT

When you think about the background of a CEO, one of the things you want to be looking at is their experience in dealing with governmental issues and regulatory issues. For years, someone who wanted to get promoted to the top had to have something in the tech column and a lot in the global column. But we've never talked about the government column or the regulatory column. I think that's going to become a really big factor. In looking at ideal preparation for a senior exec, you need to add an understanding of regulatory issues--and not just U.S. ones.

Sydney Finkelstein

PROFESSOR, TUCK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT DARTMOUTH, AND AUTHOR OF THINK AGAIN