40 best management ideas: Bay Area

We’ve all had days where we would
rather not open the newspaper, turn on
the TV or pick up the phone for the fear
of learning about more bad news.

Unfortunately, there have been a lot
more of those days for all of us lately.

The stock market is going through
extreme ups and downs, capital has dried
up, and key customers are cutting back.
You start to wonder where the sales are
going to come from to enable you to
make this quarter’s budget. If things don’t
turn around soon, you’ll have to consider
drastic cutbacks yourself.

In times like these, what’s a CEO to do?
The answer: Get back to basics. Focus
on the things you do best and do them
as efficiently as you can. Use your
strengths to exploit your competitors’
weaknesses and outhustle them.

It’s often the simple things that made
you a success in the first place, and it
will be the simple things that keep you
afloat during the economic storm.

With that in mind, we’ve assembled the
best pieces of advice garnered from
Northern California’s top leaders from
throughout the year. We think you’ll find
some great ideas to help you improve
your business within these pages, and
we encourage you to keep this issue as
an ongoing reference to help you find
your way through the trying times that
lie ahead.