With the next decade quickly approaching, businesses should be starting to craft their strategies for the coming economic depression. As we continue to assist companies with our insightful content and services, we are often asked for our advice on what to look out for and what to prepare for. To help you get started, here are five key pieces of advice you can use when leading your business through the 2030s depression.
Be Willing to Change and Adapt
The 2030s will be unlike anything anyone has gone through before. Troubled waters are ahead, and business leaders need to be ready and willing to pivot and adapt.
Those who are resistant to change will find themselves in a difficult place. To make it through the 2030s, you will need flexible business plans and strategies.
Remember – while you cannot change the wind, you can adjust your sails to get your company to where you want it to be!
Be Prepared for Sustained Inflation
Inflation has been a hot topic recently, as we were experiencing steeply rising inflation just two years ago.
However, business leaders have not gone through a period of sustained inflation such that we will see during the runup to the depression. Because of this, businesses will need to be optimally positioned from a financial standpoint as we enter the 2030s.
When navigating through periods of inflation, you need to consider how you will set your prices and maintain your margins as you prepare for the future.
Apply the Lessons Learned From the Great Recession
The Great Recession of 2008 was one of the most difficult economic events in recent history. While the 2030s depression will be more severe, you can still apply some of the lessons learned during the Great Recession.
How did you keep your team motivated? How did you price and market your products? Which products or services sold the best?
Also, identify the things you wish you had done, but did not do, during the Great Recession. This time around, do them. This is a big opportunity to take the harsh lessons you learned in 2008 and apply them to the 2030s to find success.
[ Get a sneak peek at our 10-year economic outlook from our December Executive Series Webinar! ]
Not All Industries Are the Same
As seen in our Trends 10 page in the Trends Report™, each industry goes through the business cycle at different times, like railcars on a train.
This means that each industry will have its own specific economic peaks and troughs, inflationary pressures, and opportunities and risks to consider. Make sure you know the details of your industry so that you can effectively prepare moving forward.
Be Willing to Take Risks
Business leaders who refuse to adapt to change will not be the only ones to struggle in the 2030s. Those who are unwilling to take risks will also struggle.
Concerned about protecting what they still have, some leaders will be reluctant to take risks during the 2030s. However, those who do not take necessary risks and make important decisions ahead of their competitors will only be in for more pain during the 2030s.
If you need more advice for leading your business through the 2030s depression, be sure to contact us at ITR Economics. Our new Financial Resilience program will give you a 10-year forecast to help get your company on the right path to surviving and thriving through the Great Depression.
