What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

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LEARNING FROM THE CRUCIBLE OF CRISIS

As I write this, the U.S. economy is sputtering. Though the Great Recession technically ended two years ago, unemployment remains stubbornly high and economic growth is distressingly feeble. The percentage of the U.S. population working is at a 25–year low and with 125,000 new job seekers entering the workforce each month, it may take a decade for the United States to get back to prerecession employment levels. A number of European states are in similar straits: property prices have tumbled, unemployment has soared, and growth has stalled.

What we are witnessing is the mother of all hangovers—the inevitable and entirely predictable outcome of an epically irresponsible borrowing binge. Unfortunately, in ...