In an article that I recently read, a professor from the
Harvard Business School (HBS) stated that the motto of HBS
was, “Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste.”

What a great motto!  Anyone who has ever tried to initiate
change knows that the change process always goes smoother
if the organization can focus on beating a common enemy.

And what better enemy can we have than the current
economic crisis.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: If you ever wanted to make
significant changes in your organization, now is the time
to do it.  The economy has grabbed everyone’s attention. 
And with everyone finally paying attention, you have the
opportunity to implement changes to:
- Ensure organizational survival.
- Get a jumpstart on the recovery.
- Prepare for the end of the recession.
- Create a stronger positioning in the market.
- And whatever else you want to achieve.

I do offer one big caveat!  If you want your employees on
your side during a major change, they have to trust you. 
I define trust as having the other person’s best interest
at heart.

If your employees believe that you have their best
interest at heart, they will back you 100%.  There is no
better way of gaining the trust of your employees than
having a well thought out Employment Branding Program.

For an overview of the Employment Branding Program that I
recommend, check out my Philosophy of Business at
http://www.hrcontrarian.com/philosophy/

If there is one phrase that has truly annoyed me during
our current financial crisis, it is, “To big to fail.”

The reason for my annoyance is that this phrase also
suggests that there are companies that are “too small to
save” such as all of us in small businesses.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: If a company is too big to fail,
then that company is just too big and needs to be broken
into manageable pieces.

Having done acquisitions with a public company back in the
1980’s, I am well aware of the ego trips that corporate
officers experience when they “gobble-up” the competition
or execute romantically sounding strategies such as
vertical and horizontal integration.  Bull!

Research has proven that 80% of acquisitions fail to
achieve their desired financial objectives.  But yet, we
still allow and even encourage companies like MBNA to take
over Merrill Lynch, as if a bank has the secret formula
for saving a struggling brokerage firm.  All that this
acquisition achieved was to further solidify the fact that
we will never let MBNA fail – it’s now bigger than it was
before.