Amazon Layoff Updates a Reminder to Not Count Your Chickens
Andy Jassy published a note giving an update to the world on Amazon layoffs: the number is now 18,000 which is significant!
And by the way, many of those numbers are from their people experience team -- so much for becoming Earth's Best Employer?
This brings me to a broader point, in just the first few days of 2023 I've talked to and read a few different sources who are already rosy about the second half of the year, as if they got home from their New Years Party and saw the sunrise on 2023, decided it wasn't armageddon, and were convinced we still aren't in turbulent times.
It still pays to be cautious folks. The Fed didn't really start raising rates in earnest until Q2 of last year (after starting in March), and make no mistake -- such a large and sustained change in interest rates is the start of the bullwhip, not the end. It takes 12-18 months for even the first and second-order effects of interest rate tightening to affect the American and global economies.
We are still firmly in the grip of the bullwhip; just because you read doomsday in Q3 and Q4 and it hasn't arrived doesn't mean starting to throw caution to the wind. Learn how to succeed during a downturn here.
How Should You Plan for 2023?
Don't commit to large capital projects or large hiring sprees; instead, prefer to break up large initiatives into smaller ones to give yourself more flexibility.
Commit to your most conservative cash plan this year and continually look for ways to give yourself more runway.
Plan 3 months at a time, not 12-18 months out.... at least until the middle of this year.
Need a checklist for your 2023 eCommerce strategy? We have the article for you.
How Will You Grow Your eCommerce Company?
When growth is elusive, I am an expert at asking incisive questions to surface the real issues and then present straightforward ideas that your team can actually implement.
Mistakes are expensive. They cost money, of course. What’s worse is the opportunity cost. I work with investors and management teams worldwide to help them get a handle on their digital business plans to execute a clear path forward.
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