Stephen H Baum Leadership

My CEOs who battened down the hatches as early as Fall of 2007, executed the unthinkable savings and cash provisioning in early 2008 and began selective risk-taking (acquisition of talent, acquisition of distressed companies,…) in late 2008 found the first quarter of 2011 encouraging. Profits were up, additional opportunities were surfacing, investments were being digested all while discipline was maintained.

Then a series of alarms sounded beginning with the tsunami in Japan, crises in the Eurozone and, most recently, the unseemly (at best) behavior in Washington D.C. on the debt, deficits et al. The news focuses on large companies with giant hoards of cash seen as nearly vegetating in hiring, capacity expansion and new product development.

On the contrary:
– an agribusiness systems company is making strategic hires in China and Malaysis and adding offerings and capacity to deliver on them
– a distressed asset management company with a large pool they have been working down are buying a pool almost as large and debating entry into a different market niche
– a hotel group is opening multiple hotels every month and planning/investing in the next phase of differentiating themselves from competition

The list of companies is extensive whose leaders believe that a defense-only posture is unacceptable. While they may be deeply troubled by the unpredictability of regulation/policies here and abroad, they are ready to work with unpredictability in the marketplace and with their customers who are still risk-averse.

That’s my view. What’s yours?