Survive and thrive

摘要

In many ways the recession presents an opportunity. Complacency has been broken, and many companies face important but difficult decisions,rnwhich they might have avoided taking in better times. The lesson from earlier recessions is: it's easier to make hard decisions in hard times. Options that may have been categorised as too disruptive in the past may now be exactly what is needed.rnIn the health, safety and environmental world, this can create many opportunities, such as freeing up money for investment in new, more effective assurance approaches, by reducing conventional auditing; and shutting down and preparing to shed operations that represent unacceptable levels of ongoing risk, but whose business potential was always "too good to throw away" in the past. These steps may take SHE leaders outside their traditional areas of responsibility, and even comfort, but it may be exactly the type of tangible performance that senior managers want to see.