As the summer "leisure" season takes hold, it's hard not to feel the holiday Grinch breathing negativity down our necks. Aside from all that is said and surveyed, business outlook confidence levels from consumers to corporate leaders have been taking a beating. Nothing like $5 per gallon for gas to get you pumped for the trip to the grocer. As the Federal Reserve's CFO Survey says, no revenue growth and big jumps in cost are not healthy for anybody's EBITDA waistline.
"At the median, CFOs expected unit costs to grow 10.2% in 2022, up from 8.3% last quarter. They also forecast no growth in inflation-adjusted revenue, compared with 3% real revenue growth in the first quarter. In the meantime, CFOs projected a 9.3% jump in prices in 2022, accompanied by an 8.4% jump in wage costs." ( CFO.com)
What to do? Bring back the old-school process mapping, belt-tightening, cost-down programs with a big sprinkle of automation to push the efficiency levers. Throw on top of that some old-fashioned project management and initiative rationalization to focus on the prize, not the sky. We might not be able to solve for world peace, let's start with solving problems. Make more use of internal audits to hunt for improvements, motivate employees to fix the cracks in the foundations unmasked during the growth period, and bring back in-person meetings for purpose, not for form. A carefully orchestrated enterprise-wide improvement program can be used to bring the team together. Lots to do, so little time.
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