Business, Politics, Economics, Leadership

Ten Tyrants of Uncertainty hold US businesses (from corner store to corporate behemoth) firmly by the throat, and until their paralyzing grip can be shaken off, the ‘technical’ (jobless) recovery will likely remain just that…  The following issues (in no particular order) are those raised most often in my conversations with business leaders over the last two weeks (there were dozens of others, but many were specific to a market, an industry or an individual):

• The outcome of the mid-term elections
• The actions of the anticipated lame-duck House session
• The Federal tax rates for 2011 and beyond (income, capital gains, dividends)
• The Federal budget for 2011 and beyond (deficit spending, the national debt)
• The impact of the Healthcare Reform Act on employment costs
• The specter of runaway inflation
• The risk of sovereign debt default
• The rise of a nuclear Iran
• The regulatory actions of the ‘Czars’
• The ‘next’ crisis – Fannie/Freddie, commercial real estate, union pensions…

These seem like pretty reasonable things to be worrying about to me – I’ve lost some sleep on all of them myself – but the reality is that many of these issues are likely with us for the long term, more attributes of the age in which we live rather than transient symptoms of a passing malaise.  It is therefore incumbent on those of us who spend our lives working with, advising and supporting businesses in their efforts to improve performance to help them adapt their thinking and their operations to the environment.  However, many in our industry are also struggling to adapt their own business models to new patterns of demand and radically altered economics.

The Bottom Line: The only way to lead, is to lead… but to do so, many in the advisory industry who are also held captive by the ten tyrants of uncertainty must find their own way to break free.