Harvard Business: Making Money in Chaotic Times

By Marshall Goldsmith

This week's question for Ask the Coach:

The economy will always have its ups and downs. That's why our company has two playbooks: one for running the company in an up period and another in a down period. If we enter a down period, we immediately switch to the down period playbook with its set of well-defined behaviors. Is this a good idea? And can a company still make money during bad times?

To answer your question, I decided to turn to Philip Kotler, the well-known marketing guru at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Phillip has just recently published a book with John Caslione called Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence. Here's his advice: (more)