Blogger’s Note: It’s definitely a depression and not a recession and I don’t care what definitions economists use. Now that I got that off my chest, here are 4 Reasons I Love This Depression. Hint: all of them are designed to make me a better leader.

1) We Got Lean and Mean. Everyone loves that expression and right now it’s a necessity. If for some reason you haven’t gotten lean, you better get on that diet now. For us, the leanness was found in looking at the smaller expenditures – the habit of, let’s say, always ordering a case of paper, when in fact we already had 3 cases. We cut all unnecessary expenses and then went over everything again in a month and found more. You’d be surprised what you might find is slowing your cash flow down (uh, unnecessary purchases). In 2009, we will make more online bill payments, conserve energy by monitoring the thermostat and hold off on major purchases. We will survive. Period. And I get to walk around saying, “We got lean and mean.”

2) We Made Ourselves Pause and Plan. All retail companies take inventory at the end of each month. But the kind of inventory I’m talking about is much more drastic: it involves pausing and stripping down the basic direction and focus of one’s company to see if it is, in fact, still viable. It’s called a visioning – and it takes stock of where we’ve been, where we are now and where we want to go – from a position of strength and focus. Who are our best customers? What makes them the best? How could we lose clients? What are our strengths and our weaknesses? Why will clients hire us? Fortunately for us, we have Lady Foster in our employ (Account Director, Suzee Foster), who led us in ours. We argued over words; we ached to go back to our desks and check email. Each time we do our visioning we come out of it an enormously stronger and more focused company. It is a gift we gave ourselves – and our clients.

3) We Acknowledged What Really Matters. We had a rough fall. Who didn’t? What’s the old saying? Revenue = vanity; profit = sanity; cash flow = reality. Well, I was humbled, insane and brought my loose change the Coinstar machine at the local King Kullen. (It wasn’t that bad, but you get my point.) But what really matters? Health, family and friends. I’m a better leader when I’m spending time with my family (mom is 90), swimming at the Y, reading a really good book (Brisingr) or navigating abstract art at MoMA. Yes, it’s a balancing act. But having balance helps me sleep well. And when I sleep well, I lead well. And I’m a better father to my son and son to my Mother. And that’s what really matters.

4) We Made a Decision: Lead or to Bleed. So this lousy, stinking, rotten economy has given me cause for thought: am I going to lead or bleed? Am I going to whine or inspire? Are we going to give our best efforts for our clients and for each other? I think you know the answer.

What about you? Do you have any reasons you love this depression? I’d love hear about them.

Ok. So the inauguration brought us all a sense of hope, right? But that darn bad news just keeps on a comin’. Here’s what I say: ignore the bad economic news. Forge ahead. Lead.

And get through the first quarter.

Lead your company, your team through this storm. Be an example. Take out the garbage, come in early and stay late. Reward all efforts with that simple two-word medal: thank you. Say it early and often. Thank your employees for all their efforts large and small. Now thank em again.

No doubt you’ve already pared budgets, staff and controllable expenses. Take another look.

And get through the first quarter.

And here’s another thought: get on board the e-train before it leaves the station. Have a presence on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and even Twitter. But before you do, have a REASON and a MESSAGE to be on those sites. Know that your clientele is either on those sites or will be. This year. Yup, it’s happening fast. Don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry? Get one. You’ll need it come 2010. Use this “down time” to explore this e-world or schedule a meeting with your marketing team or PR firm to find out what THEY are doing on your company’s behalf. Rumor has it that there might not even be newspapers in two and a half years. Well, there might not be a physical newspaper but there will be an Internet entity of that media. You can bet on it. We have - and so have they; that’s why an online hit is now just as important as a print hit.

If you don’t understand emerging media, it is YOUR JOB as the leader of your company to take the lead (which might mean “following” a junior person’s advice) and learn about it. Don’t have “down time” because your staff is thin and you are overwhelmed? Take a nap. And get back after it.

And get through the first quarter.

Be aggressive with promotions. Give your customers a reason to do business with you via give-aways, price reductions, events or value-added packages that your clientele “can’t say no to.” Silence is deadly. Keep your name out there.

And get through the first quarter.

Love. Service. Honesty. Create. Breathe.

Five words to live our office lives by. Five words, perhaps, by which to live our personal lives by.

Love: We vow to love. That means to love each other in our smallish space. To love our spouses, SO’s, kids, parents, pets, work and play. Even if we don’t feel like it. We acknowledge that ultimately love will conquer all. And does.

Service: We commit to serving our clients. We will be “aggressive” servants making that extra phone call on their behalf – or to THEM. (Sometimes an email doesn’t cut it, does it?) We vow to think better, work smarter and deliver for them in 2009 and to anticipate their needs. We vow to serve each other as a team.

Honesty: We take an oath of accountability, of transparency, of admitting mistakes to each other and to clients. And we take an oath of telling a client the raw truth – delicately delivered – about their business, all in the name of better serving and counseling them. We take an oath of honesty with each other too.

Create: We shall create – programs, ideas, revenue, goodwill, spirit and trust. We shall re-create too: by taking time off, by painting, drawing, playing music, vacating, reading, writing and cooking. To create is to live.

Breathe: We will remember to breathe. We will breathe in-between phone calls, meetings, days, moments, stresses, deadlines and text messages. To breathe is to honor life itself.

Love. Service. Create. Honesty. Breathe.

Five words that will shape us in 2009; now only if I can remember them in week!

Hats off to social media authority, Chris Brogan at ChrisBrogan.com for this idea. You can follow him on Twitter (@ChrisBrogan) and you can also follow me if you like: http://www.twitter.com/stevehaweeli.