The new, new economy

I was speaking with Brian Zanghi, CEO of Kadient, the other day, and our minds happened to convene on the idea that we are not so much in a bad economy, though it is all that and more. We are in a new economy, however; one that is more resource-constrained and where demand is slack. The question is not so much if we will ever see the golden days of 2006 again but what 2010 will look like.

To be sure, things will improve - but even given some improvement, in many markets, the thirst for new and more is slaked for now, and we are re-acclimating to more-controlled circumstances. Zanghi and I were talking about sales and how to do it in an economy that is, well, new - and I think this recession won't make sense unless we take that perspective.

If this were a garden-variety recession, we would simply hunker down and let the storm blow over. If this really were that kind of recession, then all the talk about selling through a recession might make more sense than it does. However, to say that this is a new economy is to say that the old approaches to even a recession will not work very well anymore.

So, what are the attributes of the new economy that we need to consider? Perhaps, surprisingly, they are some of the same attributes that we were discussing last summer when the cost of a gallon of gasoline easily exceeded the cost of a gallon of milk.

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