One Year Later: Lessons for business leaders

Anyone who's lived through the last several decades or studied recent economic history knows that capitalism is inherently unstable. More specifically, the system goes through periods of economic expansion and contraction, which generally last eight to 10 years from peak to trough. Business leaders have a choice about how they react to these expanding, then popping economic bubbles. And the key lesson is that it's better to be a leader in responding to these cycles than a follower.

Before getting into the lessons of these cycles for business leaders, it's worth pointing out that the Great Recession -- or whatever it is that we're in now -- is an extreme example of one of these cycles. For example, it wiped out $30 trillion in market value, led to nearly $2 trillion in bank write-downs, and drove the elimination of almost 7 million jobs.