You Can Exhale Now

I’ve been deep into the corporate psyche in the last week or so and I’m liking what I see. I’ve had the pleasure of conducting a couple of seminars for my local purchasing association; one with a number of companies represented and one that was company-specific. I also chaired the quarterly meeting of a corporate advisory committee, made up of business leaders from a wide variety of business segments, including banking, marketing, human resources, life sciences, and not for profit organizations. In all cases, the general feeling was that we’ve turned the economic corner and things are improving, albeit at various velocities. This is good news.

Not that there aren’t pockets of pain and suffering out there. But, Massachusetts is reporting a gain in jobs last month after 11 months of decline. Additionally, the American Bankers Association forecasts the recession will end in the third quarter of this year. Sure there will be some long term lingering effects, but good news beats bad news.

Just don’t exhale too quickly. I think risk in the supply chain will continue, not so much with your first tier suppliers but with those downstream a bit. Keep a sharp eye on them. That supply chain can have some brittle links.