What do you think?
Rate this book
Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn
“There is no better person than Ram Charan to provide advice on managing in a downturn.” –Larry Bossidy, former Chairman & CEO Honeywell International Inc.
"This is all classic guru writing, stressing the extremity of the situation. But from Charan - who has already brought us bestsellers such as Execution and What the CEO Wants You to Know - it seems plausible. His forte is bold advice, delivered with convincing rhetoric. And he has completed his new text just at the right time." --Financial Times
As a business leader today, you face an unprecedented the worldwide economic downturn. Cash and credit are dwindling, sales forecasts are dismal, and morale is sinking. This is not a time to reflect. It is a time to act, decide, and energize your people—with urgency.
This is your moment. Are you up to the task?
In Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty, Ram Charan helps you steer your business through the minefield of contracting markets, cash shortages, and ongoing uncertainty. No matter what your leadership role, Charan’s insight will help ensure that your business emerges leaner, stronger, and well in front of the competition.
“We will not know when we have turned the corner, and we cannot envision the shape and scope of the world that will emerge,” Charan writes. “What we can be sure of is that this is a time of tumultuous change, and with change come both danger and opportunity.”
In this concise and highly accessible guide, the author provides practical actions you can execute immediately to
Protect cash flow vigilantly, even daily, and use cash more efficiently Use ground intelligence to survive the storm and position your business to thrive in the aftermath Develop a better understanding of your customers Reevaluate your pricing strategy and capital expenditures Use cost cutting strategically Using examples and case studies, Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty illustrates how leaders at DuPont, Hanesbrands, Wipro, and other companies used Charan’s techniques to get results.
The chaos of global economic meltdown has imposed an urgency you have never before experienced. It’s a scary thing, but it can also be exciting—if you’re prepared.
"This is all classic guru writing, stressing the extremity of the situation. But from Charan - who has already brought us bestsellers such as Execution and What the CEO Wants You to Know - it seems plausible. His forte is bold advice, delivered with convincing rhetoric. And he has completed his new text just at the right time." --Financial Times
As a business leader today, you face an unprecedented the worldwide economic downturn. Cash and credit are dwindling, sales forecasts are dismal, and morale is sinking. This is not a time to reflect. It is a time to act, decide, and energize your people—with urgency.
This is your moment. Are you up to the task?
In Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty, Ram Charan helps you steer your business through the minefield of contracting markets, cash shortages, and ongoing uncertainty. No matter what your leadership role, Charan’s insight will help ensure that your business emerges leaner, stronger, and well in front of the competition.
“We will not know when we have turned the corner, and we cannot envision the shape and scope of the world that will emerge,” Charan writes. “What we can be sure of is that this is a time of tumultuous change, and with change come both danger and opportunity.”
In this concise and highly accessible guide, the author provides practical actions you can execute immediately to
Protect cash flow vigilantly, even daily, and use cash more efficiently Use ground intelligence to survive the storm and position your business to thrive in the aftermath Develop a better understanding of your customers Reevaluate your pricing strategy and capital expenditures Use cost cutting strategically Using examples and case studies, Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty illustrates how leaders at DuPont, Hanesbrands, Wipro, and other companies used Charan’s techniques to get results.
The chaos of global economic meltdown has imposed an urgency you have never before experienced. It’s a scary thing, but it can also be exciting—if you’re prepared.
114 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 14, 2008
14 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Ram Charan
125 books214 followersRam Charan is an Indian-American business consultant, speaker, and writer resident in Dallas, Texas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 18, 2009
Whilst the sub title of “Leadership In The Era Of Economic Uncertainty” reads “The New Rules for Getting the Right Things Done in Difficult Times”, it is more a narrative by the author Ram Charan than “rules” per se. None-the-less, the narrative is effective, well directed and most pertinent to today’s business leaders. Written in the first person, it could at times be likened to lecturing – this should not be taken as a criticism as once one gets used to the author’s style it in fact becomes quite evocative.
Although Charan does not say so, this is a book for CEOs and the senior management of organisations. For instance. it has specific chapters for the CEO and the Heads of Sales & Marketing, Finance, Operations, R & D, the Supply Chain and the Staff Functions. There is even a chapter for the Board. Each chapter has key actions that leaders in each of these areas can apply. Because of the writer’s style, a summary of the key points at the end of each chapter would have been useful to aid memory and assist implementation.
If you are looking for an understanding of the principles that underpin organisational success, this book has the answers. For example, in the chapter for Chief Financial Officers, the writer describes two types of CFOs. One type are those who look outwardly toward investors and make sure the company’s debt ratings, price/earnings ratio and financing/refinancing of debt structure are adequate and appropriate. The second type of CFOs are those who work more internally in partnership with the CEO in managing financial performance and maintaining the company’s sound financial health. These types are not mutually exclusive, but the discussion and the tips for managing both aspects in tough times, would be useful to both CEOs and CFOs. In this chapter, Charan also has some great tips for managing the finances throughout the organisation by “. . . educating the troops in liquidity, most of whom do not have a clue about liquidity.”
It’s easy to see that Charan has a good handle on day-to-day corporate life – he is not just a theorist. For example, his keen understanding that “CFOs have a tendency not to trust line managers to do the right thing in all cases and therefore put some resources in reserve without telling anyone in case the company looks like it might come up short at the end of the quarter” will resonate with most senior financial managers.
Charan also has great tips for the other senior corporate managers. In the chapter on Operations, he covers both product and service type organisations. He provides an excellent example of how tough times can affect service delivery in the airline industry. With the downturn in business class travel, some airlines’ capacity dropped by as much as 70%. This left the same number of cabin crew to service far less customers. One would expect customers to get far more attention. What often happened was that customers actually received less attention - because there were less people to serve, cabin crew took up the idle time by talking more amongst themselves. Charan’s advice is to make sure your service functions are appropriately staffed and the need for service is stressed even more in these times.
Charan also has good news for trainers. Instead of cutting the training budget, he suggests that it should be more focused. “HR needs to create and deliver the appropriate materials and methods in areas such as contract negotiations and price setting, with an emphasis on collaboration. You will get a big return on investment if you recruit your own senior executives to teach some of these sessions by using actual information, problems and challenges. Not only will such sessions bring home the reality of why people need to master these skills, they will give the ‘teachers’ a fresh insight into their own psychology and valuable input from people on the line.”
From an organisation development perspective, one initial concern I had about the book was the number of times senior leaders were advised to communicate directly with the Board. Does this hint at a lack of role definition between CEO and the Board?. How should the CEO handle his/her direct reports communicating directly with the Board? This concern was not evident however, in the chapter written for the Board which focused on the Board/CEO relationship. Perhaps this role definition could be better spelt out. I was impressed with some of the common sense advice for the Board, such as having a cocktail party for 20 senior managers the day before a Board meeting. This meeting is not intended to provide further corporate information for the Board, rather it is to enable the Board members to gauge the morale of the organisation.
This would be a great book for anyone in a senior management role. For trainers, it could be very useful for two reasons – self-education to get a real handle on perhaps some unfamiliar areas of corporate life and as pre-reading for senior management and leadership development programmes. For coaches of senior executives, various chapters could be really good resources for clients’ personal development. It’s also recommended reading for anyone in a staff function wishing to improve their personal credibility within the organisation.
Although Charan does not say so, this is a book for CEOs and the senior management of organisations. For instance. it has specific chapters for the CEO and the Heads of Sales & Marketing, Finance, Operations, R & D, the Supply Chain and the Staff Functions. There is even a chapter for the Board. Each chapter has key actions that leaders in each of these areas can apply. Because of the writer’s style, a summary of the key points at the end of each chapter would have been useful to aid memory and assist implementation.
If you are looking for an understanding of the principles that underpin organisational success, this book has the answers. For example, in the chapter for Chief Financial Officers, the writer describes two types of CFOs. One type are those who look outwardly toward investors and make sure the company’s debt ratings, price/earnings ratio and financing/refinancing of debt structure are adequate and appropriate. The second type of CFOs are those who work more internally in partnership with the CEO in managing financial performance and maintaining the company’s sound financial health. These types are not mutually exclusive, but the discussion and the tips for managing both aspects in tough times, would be useful to both CEOs and CFOs. In this chapter, Charan also has some great tips for managing the finances throughout the organisation by “. . . educating the troops in liquidity, most of whom do not have a clue about liquidity.”
It’s easy to see that Charan has a good handle on day-to-day corporate life – he is not just a theorist. For example, his keen understanding that “CFOs have a tendency not to trust line managers to do the right thing in all cases and therefore put some resources in reserve without telling anyone in case the company looks like it might come up short at the end of the quarter” will resonate with most senior financial managers.
Charan also has great tips for the other senior corporate managers. In the chapter on Operations, he covers both product and service type organisations. He provides an excellent example of how tough times can affect service delivery in the airline industry. With the downturn in business class travel, some airlines’ capacity dropped by as much as 70%. This left the same number of cabin crew to service far less customers. One would expect customers to get far more attention. What often happened was that customers actually received less attention - because there were less people to serve, cabin crew took up the idle time by talking more amongst themselves. Charan’s advice is to make sure your service functions are appropriately staffed and the need for service is stressed even more in these times.
Charan also has good news for trainers. Instead of cutting the training budget, he suggests that it should be more focused. “HR needs to create and deliver the appropriate materials and methods in areas such as contract negotiations and price setting, with an emphasis on collaboration. You will get a big return on investment if you recruit your own senior executives to teach some of these sessions by using actual information, problems and challenges. Not only will such sessions bring home the reality of why people need to master these skills, they will give the ‘teachers’ a fresh insight into their own psychology and valuable input from people on the line.”
From an organisation development perspective, one initial concern I had about the book was the number of times senior leaders were advised to communicate directly with the Board. Does this hint at a lack of role definition between CEO and the Board?. How should the CEO handle his/her direct reports communicating directly with the Board? This concern was not evident however, in the chapter written for the Board which focused on the Board/CEO relationship. Perhaps this role definition could be better spelt out. I was impressed with some of the common sense advice for the Board, such as having a cocktail party for 20 senior managers the day before a Board meeting. This meeting is not intended to provide further corporate information for the Board, rather it is to enable the Board members to gauge the morale of the organisation.
This would be a great book for anyone in a senior management role. For trainers, it could be very useful for two reasons – self-education to get a real handle on perhaps some unfamiliar areas of corporate life and as pre-reading for senior management and leadership development programmes. For coaches of senior executives, various chapters could be really good resources for clients’ personal development. It’s also recommended reading for anyone in a staff function wishing to improve their personal credibility within the organisation.
October 7, 2022
Very well crafted by Prof Ram Charan , such a complex subject in an easy tone. There are serious thoughts and linkages which the CEOs and CXOs must pick up as weak signals in order to develop an anticipatory mechanism in VUCA times. The future is far more complex, hence futures and foresight profiling is an art one must keep honing
November 28, 2018
A totally practical set of things to do when the economy is really down/
I like that it speaks about the actions required of each function leader rather than just the CEO.
Yes it's all tough work requiring humane execution. But then, that's why you accepted a leadership role.
I like that it speaks about the actions required of each function leader rather than just the CEO.
Yes it's all tough work requiring humane execution. But then, that's why you accepted a leadership role.
March 10, 2023
Good read. At a high level, the author touches different aspects and entities of organization that get impacted by the economic downturn. He very briefly touches the crucial role the C-level executives play to steer the organization ship in the right direction during the uncertain times.
December 10, 2017
Amazing little book of wisdom. Ram Charan is always insightful and delightful to read.
July 20, 2009
Timely management handbook for hard times
This short, pointed book by one of America’s leading management thinkers offers a checklist of to-do steps for managers who are coping with the economic crisis. Ram Charan covers all the bases: the board of directors, chief officers, operations, sales, research and development, and more. He offers direct, unambiguous, actionable advice for managing at each level, including: manage for cash, watch the numbers, know which customers to fire and recognize that annual targets make no sense when demand is unpredictable. The author’s record as a coach to CEOs and as an author of best-selling business books speaks for itself. In this book, getAbstract finds that he more than lives up to his reputation, avoiding jargon, generalizations and lofty theoretical pronouncements to focus on what managers must do now to survive.
This short, pointed book by one of America’s leading management thinkers offers a checklist of to-do steps for managers who are coping with the economic crisis. Ram Charan covers all the bases: the board of directors, chief officers, operations, sales, research and development, and more. He offers direct, unambiguous, actionable advice for managing at each level, including: manage for cash, watch the numbers, know which customers to fire and recognize that annual targets make no sense when demand is unpredictable. The author’s record as a coach to CEOs and as an author of best-selling business books speaks for itself. In this book, getAbstract finds that he more than lives up to his reputation, avoiding jargon, generalizations and lofty theoretical pronouncements to focus on what managers must do now to survive.
February 25, 2009
Very good reading - a great reminder of the basics that are so often overlooked in a tough environment.
August 9, 2011
Took a while to read, average book from Ram Charan
December 3, 2015
It is no great manual or help, but I guess a decent pep-talk.
March 30, 2013
A should-read book on leadership for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.
May 16, 2015
Get the information you can get,do everything you can do.
March 8, 2016
Good to go back to this book during these Latin America times
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews