Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn
In HBS Working Knowledge, Martha Lagace interviews Harvard Business School senior lecturer Bhaskar Chakravorti about turning bad news into good. “The rule of thumb here is simple: In an economic downturn, consumers consume less of many products. Invariably, this creates the need for substitutes (in the example with Frederick, repaired older cars are a substitute for new car purchases)—at least for some of the most essential products.”

10 Essential Money Skills for a Bad Economy
JD Roth in a guest post on Zen Habits about several personal finance initiatives. “When it comes to money, the best defense is a good offense. The best way to avoid fallout from the national economy is to take control of your personal economy. By developing smart financial habits, you can remain calm even in the midst of a financial crisis. (Well, mostly calm, anyhow.)”

How Do You Keep Employees Up When Everything Is Looking Down?
Citing ideas from Daniel Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational, Mike Shoemaker proposes novel ways to reward employees. “So it seems that it’s time to go ‘back to basics’ when it comes to keeping employees engaged and boosting productivity in this down economy. As a profession, we need to be thinking about how we can get back to the business of increasing the intrinsic rewards of people’s work, and we need to get creative in rebuilding the human and social aspects of our organizations.”

What makes a company a “best place to work”?
Attracting top talent is always important, even in a downturn, and AJC’s Laura Raines writes about how to do it. “Being a great place to work is all about people. People are looking for organizations that support them as individuals, not just employees. We have great depth in our value system and belief in our people. The consistency of what we do helps sustain us in good times and bad.”

5 Ways to Beat the Recession at Work and Become the ‘Go To’ Person
On PRUrgent, Betty Lamarr talks about the art of managing through a recession. “During such a time as this we are called upon to do more with fewer resources. I can remember being a part of a couple of downturns in business and my tendency was to work harder and longer and to try to show that I was carrying more than my weight. I was working harder and not necessarily smarter. I want to share with you a few ideas to incorporate in your plan for becoming the ‘go to’ person in a downturn.”

Can a downturn give you better work-life balance?
Josh Gordon and Annie Lawson looks at the good and the bad of shorter working hours on SMH. “This trend is being partly driven by altruism, with many small businesses determined to keep staff with families and mortgages employed for as long as possible; and partly by optimism – many employers believe that if they can retain the skills base of their workforce, they will be in a better position to compete when the economy picks up again.”

Stop The Doom-Mongering
Nisha Chittal of Brazen Careerist calls for a ceasefire on doom-mongering in behalf of new graduates. “Seniors: Choose action over talk. Double your job hunt efforts. Network harder. Try your parents’ companies. Try nontraditional career paths. Work abroad. Temp for a while. Try a whole new industry. Scrap your well-laid plans, since the economy doesn’t care about your plans — but refuse to abandon your dreams. And for God’s sake, stop reading articles that make you feel even more down about the job market.”