Here’s a startling thought:  “It’s tougher recovering from a downturn than being in a downturn.”

This statement was made by Ira Jackson, Dean of Claremont’s Drucker School of Management, who was participating at the World Business Forum last week (Oct 6-7 in New York). The Wall Street Journal put together the video below, highlighting top management thinking on keys to rebounding as the economy begins to turn around.

If you have spent this economic wobble doing the right things, your business should be okay, and even thriving. A few questions to reflect on:

• Have you taken advantage of this time to pursue radical innovation?
• Have you treated your staff well? Are you confident they will stick around when new employment choices begin to emerge? Really? Let’s hope you are not kidding yourself here.
• Have you been truly loving your customers, so that they continue loving you when they begin spending again?

And your teams — have you done the work to create a productive environment for your teams? The key is “really understanding the dynamics of the team and how that plays out in the context of the work you are doing and the strategy you are trying to implement,” says management consultant Patrick Lencioni. “And really pushing on whether people are behaving in a way that is allowing them to get the most work done in the least amount of time.”