The current economic crisis has presented the prospect to companies and individuals an opportunity to stop, step back and to ask, 'Why do we do what we do? Are there better or more efficient ways to do what we do?'

Anyone with a passion to succeed must be excited by the possibilities of this downturn. It provides a real opportunity to be creative and more importantly, it provides an avenue for us to reinvent ourselves.

For most, the revenue stream seems to be drying up, for others it presents a challenge to forge a new stream; a new path. In the good times, we tend to be wasteful, unresponsive, hiding our inefficiencies in the profit and surpluses that we make. Consider the bullfrog phenomena:

If you throw a bullfrog into boiling water he will hop right out. Place him in cool water and slowly turn up the heat. The water warms and the bullfrog falls asleep and is soon cooked.

We have become the complacent bullfrog, oblivious to what is happening in our environment. So what can we do?

Here are some considerations:

Get back to basics. Concentrate our efforts on what we do best - our core activities. Outsource those activities that are neither strategic nor cost-efficient. Focus our energy on value-adding activities.

Revisit costs and overheads with a view of trimming the fat. Ask yourself 'Do you need that? What value does it add?' If you can't find an answer, chances are you don't need it.

Spend the company's funds as if it were your own. Shop around for the best value, looking at the total cost of ownership versus the listed price.

Share information with your employees. The more aware they are of the situation, the more appreciative and helpful they can be in formulating solutions.

Listen to your employees. They often hold the key to many solutions.

Plan your activities. As the old adage goes, 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail'. Also remember, what gets measured, gets done.

I am, etc.,

RODNEY O.DAVIS

rodney_davis@flowja.com

Bernard Lodge, St Catherine