Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The entire U.S. auto industry has conducted business in the last several years as if there weren't high gas prices and the potential for disruptions in the supply. With companies that have been so long in the business and having been through a number of difficult periods of time, what was it that caused them to not respond to what is obvious to those that take even a cursory look at the auto industry?

Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda admitted when asked if they waited too long, "Did we wait too long? Yes, we did."

We need to take a somber and thoughtful look at this and ask ourselves if we are doing what huge companies that should have know better have done.

Whether you're a sole proprietor or managing a huge division, somebody has to understand clearly and without prejudice what the true condition of the market you serve is, and where your current customers are at in reference to your products or services.

To say the car companies waited too long, while true, is as big an understatement that could be made. There should have been immediate response as we could all see that this was going to be a long process that may never revert back to the prices of gas as they had been.

They had to understand that the consumer would begin to move to higher mileage vehicles when the gas prices revealed that they weren't going to go down.

We need to look at our offerings and scrutinize them on a continuous basis. While we're going great in one area, we should have several things in the pipeline that can be put out there on a trial basis to see if it sticks.

One other thing we need to do is to have people in the company whose job it is to monitor the condition of the market we're in and consumer appetites within it. If you're a sole proprietor, you need to take time to stay on top of where your industry is going.

While doing that you also must distinguish between what is hype and wishful thinking and the true condition of the marketplace and where it is going.

The one thing we can't do is to sit around and wait while hoping things will just continue on the same as it has; An industry as big as the automobile industry has learned that business can't be run that way.