The Will to Grow ™

YPO IT Network Roundtable - Microsoft

Hello everyone!  I’m on a plane heading to Seattle for the annual Young Presidents Organization (YPO) IT Network Roundtable.  The event brings together approximately 75 CEOs of diverse technology companies from across the globe with leading technology executives expert in their respective fields, such as cloud computing, business video, mobile applications, etc.  Last year’s event was held at Google, and this year we are meeting at Microsoft with several heads of their respective divisions and initiatives.  We will also meet with top executives from other Seattle-based companies such as Costco and Amazon.

I am very eager to hear the collective perspective on the overall market, the technology sector, and specifically key technology trends.  I will blog about any key (non-confidential) learnings.  I always look to learn “golden nuggets” or important information that may help grow Axispoint.

Double Dip Recession Or Growth Economy?

Today’s economy is certainly a strange one with conflicting economic reports and indicators released daily and financial markets continually in flux.  One thing is for certain, as executives, we need to do our best to understand what’s occurring and what the future may hold and include this in our strategic thinking, yet we cannot be confined or defined by the market.

All too often I hear people getting caught up in the day-to-day drama of the market.  The interesting thing is the stock market is a place where investors are betting on future expectations, not the here and now.  In my opinion and I have blogged about this before, the real issue is that the recession was so deep that it will be (and we are experiencing) a very long recovery period, not a high flying growth spurt.  Two very important issues linger – high unemployment and tighter credit markets.  Companies need to begin hiring again so more consumers have disposable income to spend and financial institutions need to further ease access to credit so companies have growth capital to invest.  Until this happens, and I am bullish it will but over time, the economy will remain in its up/down and ebb/flow pattern. 

Given this, the future still remains bright.  I am a firm believer that we have to take economic factors into consideration and determine where to focus our businesses, yet we need to think outside the box and not be defined by what the market says and does.  There are a number of different ways to experience growth and we each need to determine our best way to get to the next level given the current situation.  In other words, I believe real and better than the average growth is out there for those who think beyond economic and market conditions.