Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back

Epilogue

This book described the great opportunities that lie before us and what’s possible for businesses that grasp those opportunities. But I am a realist as well as an optimist. As this manuscript goes to the publisher, a dark cloud hangs over us. People the world over fear that an extended recession has set in.

The headlines of today’s newspaper say it all: “Big and Small, Companies Cling by a Thread.” The stories describe how a local plastics company is being hit by higher materials costs while orders are falling; how a large national retail chain is closely managing its liquidity; and how a third corporation, unable to extend its financing, must do more belt-tightening in order to survive. There is even a story of how a local university ...