UCLA’s Anderson School of Management recently hosted a seminar for executives with an unusual message: A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. With consumer spending at 1997 levels, many companies are struggling to find easy ways to cut costs and boost productivity. Yet the speakers at UCLA’s conference urged executives to take advantage of the economic crisis as an opportunity to improve performance as well.  In addition to strengthening balance sheets, executives at the seminar were advised to hold onto key employees, let go of unprofitable business lines, and grab up new investment opportunities– in other words, work smarter, not harder. As finance professor Antonio Bernado said, “If you invest now when your peers and competitors are waiting on the sidelines, you can be a leader in your industry when the recovery does come.”

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