Steve Ballmer on “The New Normal”

More people are saying it: we shouldn’t expect a quick recovery back to the economy’s baseline when the recession started. Here’s Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on the subject:

In all the talk about the economy, one term that comes up more and more frequently is something called “the new normal.” I like this phrase because it speaks to the fact that economic reality has undergone a fundamental shift over the course of the past 12 months.

So what is the nature of this shift? After years of economic expansion fueled by unrealistic rates of consumption and unsustainable levels of private debt, the global economy has reset at a lower baseline level of activity. Today, people borrow less, save more, and spend with much greater caution.

Ballmer goes on to explain how technology can allow people to do more with less, and of course he’s right, but the underlying point is clear: organizations need to adjust their thinking and figure out how to thrive, not just survive, in the new normal.

The ones who do will be the big winners when things get back to the old normal many years down the road. Sierra College needs to be one of them.