A Never Ending Recession?
If we are to believe what the experts in the city are saying, then this Recession will impact us for the next 25 years
This claim is supported by a recent article about a TUC survey of the British economy that stated “Low and median incomes increased just 27 and 56% in the 30 years up to the recent recession, despite the fact that the economy had more than doubled in size over the same period”.
It went on to say that “it shows that while the recession is often cited as the cause of today's tough income squeeze, a livelihood crisis has been brewing in Britain for three decades, held off only by an unsustainable rise in personal debt”.
Add to that the news today that the UK economy has grown by a paltry 0.2% and you start to question if we are already back in trouble.
The financial crash has exposed decades of limp wage growth for the lower and middle classes, offset by soaring household debt. And it is this debt and the banks' subsequent unwillingness to lend that is most likely to impact future growth.
Unlike previous recessions that have bounced back as quickly as they came, this recession has nothing to bounce back with. The banks are not lending to individuals or to business and inflation is eating away into disposable incomes.
No wonder the economists are predicting such a long and gloomy outlook.
So, as the business world readjusts to the new status quo, we were pleased to find a group of people who are bucking the trend and adapting faster than most.
These are the business elite that are savvy enough to realise that amongst all the doom and gloom there are some great opportunities, if you move shrewdly.
I am referring to a new book just released, a collaboration by 60 successful business leaders from across the world. The book is called Lessons Learned From The Recession and is a personal account of how they as individuals and as businesses, have been adapting and seeking out new opportunities and subsequently thriving, while the majority of the business world has struggled to maintain any growth.
Mark Stephens is the book's editor. He spoke to us about the book and explained: “Truly great business leaders always adapt and find solutions. There are a special breed of people out there that look at the world in a more positive and optimistic way and I wanted to capture some of that in the book. There are dozens of coaching books written on how to make your business more successful or how to make you a better leader, but there is very little that explores what successful people actually do when confronted by a crisis in a personal and practical way like this book does. I guess that most of us realise that the impact of this recession is likely to be here for some years to come, so in order to start thriving we have to make significant changes to the way that we operate. By finding a selection of successful business leaders from around the world, we have created a powerful book, with the ability to inspire others”.
The book contains 60 unique chapters, each written by a different author and a personal account of what they and their business did in order to thrive. It makes captivating reading and the short chapters make it very difficult to put down. Lessons Learned from the Recession is certainly a powerful book and is the first in a series of free books to download from a social media site called Ask the Experts. The site contains an eBook library where its members can download business eBooks for free.
A number of prominent business individuals have been given early access to the material in the book and the feedback so far seems to support the editors' claims:
James Caan, CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw and of Dragons Den fame, a popular British television show, where four multi-millionaire businessmen look to invest into great new business ideas, said, “This book provides valuable advice from business owners who have been on the front line and know the challenges of starting or running a business.”
Similar sentiments received by Steve Farber, in the US, bestselling author of The Radical Leap Re-Energized and Greater Than Yourself , who states “The Business Leader’s Book Club offers something that most so-called business books don’t: real lessons, from real executives, facing real challenges in this tumultuous age. This series is your chance to sit down with and learn from some of the sharpest practitioners in business today. Don’t miss it”.
With such credible endorsement from these and dozens of other highly successful business leaders already, this book promises to be a big hit in the business world and offers some optimism and practical advice that can hopefully help to prove the experts and their pessimistic predictions wrong.
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