To Thrive in the Recession, be a Cockroach

Sramana Mitra, an entrepreneurship and strategy consultant says that she’s fighting the recession by encouraging people to be entrepreneurs. She emphasizes that a recession could be good for start-up leaders. First, she observes that during a boom, you don’t need as much talent to succeed: the environmental helps you along. A downturn offers particular opportunity for especially smart people willing to work harder. They are the ones who discover their full potential and find ways to solve the toughest problems. Second, she says that good leaders don’t get stuck. They know how to take their eyes off the short term and try to see how things will shape up in the future. They go ahead and start the process of building the future. Third, a recession is a time when you remain cautious and tread slowly. Good leaders and entrepreneurs run their start-ups on the thinnest budgets possible, making sure they remain agile at all times. In the words of Paul Graham, programmer and start-up guru, recession offers you a chance to be the cockroach of the corporate world. A recession forces you to be as thrifty as possible and that helps it thrive even in the worst of times.

source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/27/recession-cockroach-survival-leadership-managing-edge.html