Forget The Bear, Watch For The Car

Last Thursday morning, on a trail in Colorado Springs, a pregnant woman was chased by a brown bear that was 2-feet away at some point, according to the woman’s account. In her panic, she forgot basic safety rules and was hit by car when jumping on the street. Fortunately, she was not injured and her baby is safe.


While this might seem an unlucky or even funny event, it is a great lesson for business managers. Given the economic downturn, most companies are in panic mode. So the major risk for businesses is to get blinded and be hard-hit by an event that could have otherwise been preventable. In their rush to run from the economic bear, companies are downsizing under panic and with no strategic objectives. Chances are that these companies might hurt their business models and do more damage to themselves than any powerful downturn. In the woman’s case, detectives believe that the bear was not really chasing her but was used to people and was probably looking for food in her backpack.

So always remember, when in a group, you do not need to be faster than the bear, you just need to be faster than other people in that group.