The Wall Street Journal had an article that I reviewed this morning where they interviewed multiple CEOs to ask them what was more important - strategy or execution. A CEO's focus should be first on strategy and then on execution. You can't have one without another. However, strategy needs to come before execution so that you can actually move in the right direction.
Last year we spent a great deal of time working as an executive team focusing on how to cut costs and increase revenue. Prioritization. Measurements through metrics. Innovation. All of these elements allowed us to push through some very difficult times with great success. As we ended the year, we were already watching and getting ahead of the economy. We started 2009 with a plan to greatly increase revenue even in a down economy. It seems that our hard work last year is already paying dividends this year. Revenue may be even higher than expected and we are still finding optimization elements where we are increasing capacity while lowering costs. Definitely a good mix. We are quite aware that we could easily lose more customers as everyone listens to the news and buckles down to ride out the recession. Obviously, this would put a damper on any positive aspects.
In the meantime, it was great to see Spirit with positive feedback on the local Charlotte news channel where we were mentioned as only 1 of 2 companies hiring this year. If you follow this link and click on the video on the right, you can see how the businesses in Charlotte are viewing the opportunities that 2009 has to offer.
http://www.wbtv.com/global/story.asp?s=9754142
(The question for another blog is: Are the news agencies to blame for the economy by constantly telling everyone how bad the economy is?)
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