The world is getting into another economic mess as it reacts to slowing growth in China.

However, countries in the West should look to their own performance.

I know China's slowdown means there is less demand for Western goods and services ... but this means that now is a good time to concentrate on building the infrastructure needed to underpin higher productivity.

When the upturn comes - as it will - we need to be ready ... with a supply of competitive and innovative goods and services.

This is true at all levels - at government policy and strategy - and at your level.  what can you do to make your organisation stronger and ready for the future?

If you know, do it!

If you don't, think harder!

Who executes?

I talked last week about the need to think about key issues well in advance of them coming to pass. (The example I used was driverless cars saying we, collectively, should be thinking now about the algorithms used to determine the action the car's systems should take in the event of a potential accident - to save the driver, a pedestrian, another vehicle or....

Burt, of course, in other scenarios, thinking is not enough.  Lots of companies, for example, have had great strategies crafted by lots of successful strategic thinking - but they have then failed to execute effectively.

So good thinking must be followed by good execution.  You need a team around you who can do both.  So, look at your team and decide who are the thinkers, who are the executors.  Do you have enough of both - and do you have the skills to act as the link between them.  Someone has to!

Does it matter to me?

We are in the age of driverless cars. Experts predict that a commercial, driverless car is less than a decade away.

But in the event of a potential accident, who does the car save - the driver, a pedestrian about to be hit, the occupants of another vehicle?

The algorithms built into the car's systems will determine the answer ... but who has devised those algorithms .. and based on whose thinking.

These are issues that should be concerning us now .. not in 5 years time when we are in the car not driving it.

And such issues about future automation are not just for the big boys - they are for all of us, as producers and/or consumers.

Leave Home

Many of us work, at least for some of the time, from, home.

Yet, many of us find it hard to be fully productive.

For people whose work involves a lot of home working, it might be wroth considering a shared workspace that offers both support facilities and social interaction.  it also gives you the credibility of a 'real' business address.

Of course it will cost you, but it offers more structure to your working day and to your work practises.

Sound values

This  is the first blog post of the new year.  It should perhaps therefore have a strong message of positivity for that new year.

But that new year, for you, will be what you make it.  reading my blog posts might be of some little interest to you - but it is not going to change how you behave - or what you do.

So, I leave you to find your own positive way forward.  My only piece of advice is to always remember who you are, and what your true values are. If what you do fits with those values, you won't go far wrong!

This also works  at the organisational level.  if the decisions you take - and the way you treat your staff - accord with your values (and those values are fundamentally sound, of course), your organisation is in good hands.