So far I have covered two of the four mindsets I believe are deadly in today’s new marketplace.

The first was the Status Quo Mindset and the second was the Arrogance Mentality Mindset.

Today I will cover the third mindset I find very noted for the season we are currently in.

It is the Business Suicide Mentality #3: The “Hunker Down” Mindset.

The reference to hunker down means two things: One is preparation for some type of pressure you’re anticipating. The other relates to hiding.

With the jobless rates soaring, consumer spending way down and the incredible shifts occurring in new millennium business across the board today, it’s no wonder hunkering down would be a serious consideration for you if you are in business. The worst thing a business can do during this time is to hunker down and hide.

Hunkering down is not the same as being prudent or making more calculated decisions. There is nothing wrong in tightening the belt and paying close attention to your overhead and operating expenses. This should be a normal part of your everyday business processes.

The problem with hunkering down is it is mostly an action driven by fear rather than confidence. When you are making decisions based on fear for your business, you are positioning yourself to be moved into a negative mindset that fosters protection instead of retooling or repositioning. It dampens creativity and change and without these in today’s marketplace you are pretty much just going through the motions until there are no more motions left to go through!

In my line of business (digital marketing consulting and digital media development) we have seen a huge slow down of business as well in this tough economy. We have seen both large and small projects scheduled for production being postponed or pulled altogether. The story in each of these cases is just about the same. “We have to trim our spending, jobs are getting cut, or we don’t think we have the budget for this right now”.

Here is the sad truth about those kinds of decisions though. First, when you are faced with tough times no doubt you need to make some changes. But…don’t operate with a status quo mindset and purposefully resist change because of fear and because you are out of your comfort zone!

Rather, understand this is a remarkable time for you to redesign, retool, reposition, rethink your business. After all, we are in a new business age. If you are not aware of this then I would have to say you have some serious catching up to do. But for those who are aware of this but not sure what to do about it…I would like to offer some suggestions you may want to consider.

First, come to grips with we are in The Change Era. The world has changed. Business has changed. Marketing has changed. Your Client has changed.

Probably the biggest change any of us will see in our lifetimes is the amazing magnitude of change on modern society the Internet (and the World Wide Web in particular) has delivered. As it continues to morph and expand and reinvent itself something more deep-seated is going on as a result. A movement of sorts is being termed as the rise of the “New” customer as technology empowers consumers like never before.

Understand this is not merely a shift in new forms of technology use but it’s a shift in doing business in accepting the mindset of partnering and engaging with your customer on their terms…not yours. That’s a huge shift for many of us in business today!

Second, we are never going to see ‘business as usual’ again. This is not a temporary departure from business as usual…it’s a structural transformation, a lasting change.

• The old business models used for the past 60 years or so are going to be replaced with new ways of doing business that look nothing like we have seen so far because this no ordinary shift. It is a once-in-a-lifetime shift challenging the very foundations of the all economic order.

• 20th century business practices will not work for 21st century economics. Yesterday’s businesses were built for a world of over consumption, artificially cheap production, mass sales. Industrial-era dinosaurs are going to bite the dust hard if they don’t redefine and transform. This is true for both small and large business.  (Read the amazing Umair Haque)

Thirdly, strategy and creativity rules! They matter more now than maybe ever before in today’s marketplace.

I remember my days in corporate America and if you were strategic and creative, that was almost a liability for you if you wanted to be taken serious and be moved up in a company. But today, you need these working for you in just about everything you do in your business. From your marketing positioning to your niche, to your employees, etc., even right down to your logo!

Not just any old strategy and creative approach will work either. That is what is a bit tricky here. It must be totally in the know of this new business era we are in. It must understand the new consumer; it must embrace the digital world and know how to emotionally connect with your specific target markets.

There’s not a shortage of business to be had in this tough economy… there’s a shortage of knowing the rules have changed in business and marketing and what it is you going to do about it. Now is the time to reconsider how you are responding to a living, breathing, evolving and changed marketplace.

As I have said, fear has gripped many people in business today and to make matters worse, the course of action most are taking to deal with a soft marketplace is to ride it out by hunkering down and pulling back!  Believe me…being paralyzed by fear and hunkering down is NOT the answer.

What are you doing to position your businesses the rest of 2009?

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