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I received a story from thread roller maker, C.J. Winter, which talks about how the company used the recession to finally look at some of the easily put-off things that needed to be done with the business. Too often, when business is busy, there simply isn’t time to take a good look at how things are getting done with the idea of how they can get done better. There simply isn’t time to deviate from “normal,” even if normal may not be the most efficient or profitable method of accomplishing the task. Well, nothing focuses the collective mind of a company like when every dime becomes important because recession has reared its ugly head, and survival is now a factor in the game. I think the story of how C.J. Winter used its slack time during the recession to prepare for recovery is compelling because it relates to most shops, suppliers and yes, publishers. It explains the concrete steps the company took to be even better than it was before the recession. It also explains the optimism the company displayed that, indeed, the recession would be over sometime, and their company would be among the survivors.