The Economy: It’s Half Time

Love what Richard Davis, US Bancorp CEO, had to say to a room full of business leaders about the economy on December 5^th.

“I don’t think anyone that I know would disagree that we’re only halfway through this recession. But there’s something really cool about halftime,” added Davis. “Picture the clock winding down 3, 2, 1, Honk! The coaches take their teams into the locker rooms and you have a few minutes. What do you do? You have all the information you’re going to need to know for the rest of the game. You get a chance to pause and use it. You know the conditions in the field house. You know the spirit of the referees. You know if the other team’s best player is playing up to potential, and if your best player is playing up to potential. You’ve seen virtually every play they’re going to run on you. You know how the fans are behaving. It’s not going to change when you come back out. The only variable is what you do to change your team’s perspective, capabilities and performance in the second half.

“We’ve indeed been there and done that. It’s a very important point to remember that we have done this before. It’s not what we’re in, it’s what we do about it … it’s not the first half, it’s the second half. Nobody celebrates how many first-half wins you have (except the) Vikings. They only celebrate the final score, sadly (except the) Vikings.”