The Worst Strategy
There are many things to be afraid of these days, but nothing scares me more than the widespread use of the phrase “hunker down.” Government officials, CFOs, and pundits offer these gutless words as a commonsense strategy for America during these difficult times. A terrible hurricane is passing over the land, they say, and no one knows when it will be safe to come out. Hunker down, take your bailout money, and be quietly grateful. Nonsense!
Whatever happened to the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave,’ not to mention that ‘can-do’ attitude that has defined our national spirit for over two centuries? Is it time to retire the American eagle and put a groundhog on our coins?
President Reagan faced a severe recession when he came into office, but I’m sure the thought of hunkering down never crossed his mind. The nation needed more economic activity, but he knew that ‘government activity’ was an oxymoron and recovery would only come when the private sector, by its own initiative and with private capital, was inspired to invest, grow, compete, build, hire, and fight its way back to prosperity. Private sector initiative was a phrase he often used, and the eighties proved it to be a far better strategic plan than hunkering down and waiting for salvation to trickle down from Uncle Sam!
Rather than hunkering down, American businesses need to get off their butts, ignore most of the claptrap in Washington, and do what they know how to do: create, sell, deal, and get moving again. And what better time to do it than when many of your competitors are drinking the ‘hunker down and wait for the bailout to work’ Kool-Aid that big government is selling. This is exactly not the time to cut back on marketing, exactly not the time to sell the corporate jet, exactly not the time to cancel conventions, exactly not the time to scale back bonus programs, and exactly not the time to hunker down.
This is one of the greatest entrepreneurial opportunities in history. Your customers need your ideas and innovation more than ever before. Hunkering down tells them you are afraid and out of ideas. Isn’t it better to show them that now is the time to work together to expand market share (competitors are cutting back), that now is the time to develop new programs (costs are lower), and that now is the time to make strategic acquisitions (remember ‘buy low, sell high’)?
The best thing about not hunkering down is that you’ve already paid for it. You already have your equipment, your staff, and your ideas – just get out and use them. If you really believe that your company’s greatest asset is its people, why not show them how to be more active, more aggressive, and more ambitious? After all is said and done, only initiative and activity will rebuild your business – hunkering down is for wimps.
One synonym for hunker down is squat. As a business strategy, that’s exactly what it’s worth.