I just spent a week in Cooperstown, NY, the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. No, I did not achieve my childhood dream of being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame — I was there to watch my 12 year old play baseball at the Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Cooperstown Dreams Park provides the opportunity for tens of thousands of 12-year-old boys to play baseball in the town where the game was born. What’s more they get to spend a couple hours in the hall of fame dreaming about how one day they’ll have a plaque on the wall. I can guarantee you that every boy (and the handful of girls) who plays in Cooperstown feels like a real major leaguer while they are there.

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All right, I’m officially over the recession. I’m tired of reading, writing, thinking, and talking about it. Most of all I’m tired of having to deal with it every day in our business. I long for the good ol’ days. For our industry — publishing — that was the go-go ’90s. But at this point I’d settle for anything pre-2008. But for some reason, even though I’m tired of it, the recession is undaunted by my feelings. It continues to rage on, taking its toll on all of us.

No one is exempt. Earlier this year Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, an executive recruiting firm, released data that showed 1,484 CEOs left the corner office in 2008. That number was the most since Challenger began the survey a decade earlier. Of course, some of the executives retired, others just walked away, and many were shown the door because of the poor performance of the companies they led. But it’s no coincidence that a record number of CEOs exited the corner office during the worst economic downturn since World War II.  No one in the current workforce has ever managed through anything like it. It’s not easy, and it’s not fun.

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Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by companies during the current economic crisis?  Let me rephrase that. Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by the PEOPLE inside some companies during the economic crisis?

Let’s face it, people make decisions. The decisions may be made on behalf of an organization, but they’re still made by individuals acting alone or as a group.  And, frankly, I’ve got big questions about some of the decisions being made.

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I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about strategic planning lately. I guess when all hell is breaking loose, as it has been for many businesses of late, it becomes real easy to question the strategic direction of the company. When sales are falling or profits are eroding, when new ventures are struggling to gain traction or long-term successes are beginning to wane, one begins to question the strategic direction of the business. It’s probably second nature.

Reviewing your company’s strategic direction is never a bad thing. It never hurts to reconsider past assumptions or decisions to make sure that they’ve had the desired effect on the business. But a few words of caution if you’re considering reevaluating your business’ strategic plan: read more…