A key issue in economic turbulence is always the balance between hunkering down too much (being too conservative) versus growing too much (being too optimistic). And when times are really turbulent like they are this year, the stakes for guessing wrong go up dramatically. 

For instance, take too big a risk for growth and guess wrong or there is a double dip in the comply, and the company and your job are at risk. And the other side of the coin is not any better. Be too conservative and miss out on sales opportunities or potential acquisitions and you start losing customers, deals AND your best people.  The grass does not have to be much greener on the other side of the fence, when times are turbulent.

The Wall Street Journal weighed in on this issue in Monday July 26^th in the Money & Investing section. Markets Say No to Expansionist Companies. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704719104575389172070900184.html

Take some zeros off the discussion about Texas Instruments, Delta, Ford and UAL to apply the article and discussion to your business, project or job.  Where are you too conservative or too aggressive now?  What changes should you make?

In essence this thought process and the insights you gain are the key aspects of risk management.  Call it enterprise risk management, ERM, operations risk management, ORM, contingency planning, strategic planning, risk assessment, operational review, due diligence, or even simpler versions like cash planning, performance management, conservative leadership or a business model review .  No matter how sophisticated the phrase you want to use, the process starts with regular and consistent common sense applications balancing current and future risks with current and future rewards.  It is very easy to underestimate how much risk you are taking and overestimate the realistic rewards.