On June 23, the Business Roundtable released its Second Quarter 2009 CEO Economic Outlook Survey and there is reason for some optimism. While it’s not all blue skies and sunshine, it does appear that the storm clouds may be clearing. Good news is rare these days so I thought the survey was worthy of some attention.

First a little about the Business Roundtable and the survey. The Business Roundtable is an association of CEOs of leading corporations, representing a combined workforce of nearly 10 million employees and more than $5 trillion in annual revenues. The CEO Economic Outlook Survey, conducted quarterly since the fourth quarter of 2002, provides a glimpse into the economic outlook of the member companies.

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There has always been a lot of focus on quarterly earning reports, but given the current economic environment, this corporate ritual has come under even greater scrutiny. Everyone is trying to read the crystal ball and figure out what every little detail means. Sales are down 30% when compared to the same quarter but are 5% higher than analysts expected. Profits have plummeted 40%, but when compared to others in the industry, the company is holding up relatively well. What does it all mean?

This focus on quarter-by-quarter results seems wrong to me. Everyone is focused on the organization’s short-term performance instead of the long-term value. I understand that companies must do what is necessary to survive the current recession. But those companies that aren’t in jeopardy of extinction, yet sacrifice long-term goals in exchange for this quarter’s earnings, are making a huge mistake.

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For the last decade, big companies and the people who run them have been some of the most despised and least trusted in America. In the 80s and 90s, “greed was good” as everyone benefited from a skyrocketing stock market. No one much cared what was going on in those big companies as long as the market was rising and so was everyone’s 401(k) right along with it.

But with the bursting of the tech stock market bubble, everyone’s retirement savings took a hit. That was followed quickly by the very public financial collapse of Enron where thousands of employees lost all of their retirement money because of the fraudulent activities of a few senior executives. Then in very quick succession we had the debacles at Tyco, Adelphia, and HealthSouth. The public’s trust in big business and those who run them was gone. And now the failure and the bailouts of some of this country’s largest institutions have been like throwing salt in an open wound.

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Yesterday I received an e-mail from an employee in our company that really got me thinking. Her e-mail was about one of the less talked about effects of tough economic times. Her note contemplated how layoffs, or even the hint of layoffs, can cause a company to lose the employees it most desperately wants to retain. Here’s an excerpt from her e-mail:

“My husband’s company is facing layoffs as well. As we talked about it last night, he went down a small list of people he would choose to cut if the opportunity presented itself. The problem is, he has workers who are invaluable. Some of them work very closely with competitors. He’s concerned that if cuts are made, his strong workers — the ones that pull the load of two men — will be recruited away or become nervous and jump ship, leaving him with not enough workers.”

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