The document discusses the current economic crisis and provides advice on how to survive and grow during difficult times. It notes high foreclosure and unemployment rates, as well as business closures and bank failures. People are experiencing change in behaviors, lifestyles, consumption patterns, and lack of trust. However, generations that survived the Great Depression demonstrated adapting, improvising, overcoming adversity, and learning new skills. The document recommends learning problem-solving techniques to define problems, find root causes, develop and test solutions, and sustain improvements.

2. The Crisis

3. “ What we have learned is that the economy is in much worse shape than we thought it was in.” VP Elect Joe Biden on ABC News December 2009

4. Home Foreclosures

5. “ More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a trade group which warned that number will continue to climb.” NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)

6. More than 8,400 properties — a record — set for foreclosure sale Atlanta Journal January12, 2009

7. Bank Failures

8. The 22 bank failures so far this year compare with three for all of 2007 and are far more than in the previous five years combined. It's expected that many more banks won't survive the next year of economic tumult. The pressures of tumbling home prices, rising mortgage foreclosures and tighter credit have been battering many banks, large and small, nationwide.

9. Sunshine Mortgage Corp., one of the oldest mortgage companies, and one of the biggest, remaining in the Southeast, is closing its doors and scrambling to find a last minute buyer, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned. January 8, 2009

10. Business Closures

11. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, about 148,000 retail stores will have closed in 2008

12. Macy’s Linen n Things Circuit City Pep Boys Goody’s

13. Un-Employment

14. 7.2

15. 7.2 That rate, the highest in 16 years, translates into 11.1 million Americans without jobs Associated Press

16. 13.5

17. But 7.2 percent doesn't capture how many people are out of work. By another measure — from the same employment report — as much as 13.5 percent of the labor force is either unemployed or underemployed. Associated Press

18. 21 million unemployed or underemployed workers 13.5 Associated Press

19. What Does All of this Mean?

20. Change

24. Can We Survive?

26. Key Learnings from the Great Depression and the “ Greatest Generation”

28. What Is One Good Skill To Learn?

29. Learn to Solve Problems

30. “ Organizations today suffer from a severe disability when it comes to solving problems. In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable. Every attempt to resolve a problem results in unintended consequences that dwarf the original one. Relationships worsen as people harden into opposing positions, each side insisting on its own solution, unwilling to consider alternatives. Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence.” Margaret Wheatley Margaret Wheatley

31. Toyota Motor Corporation is famed for its ability to relentlessly improve operational performance. Central to this ability is the training of engineers, supervisors and managers in a structured problem-solving approach that uses a tool called the A3 Problem-Solving Method and Report.

33. Final Thoughts

34. “ So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself...” Franklin D. Roosevelt

35. “ So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself... nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” Franklin D. Roosevelt