Being "Underwater" on your business balance sheet in this new era can be a time bomb waiting to blow up. This is sometimes also called Bad Balance Sheet, Good Company. How can you move from whatever degree of the bad version of the phrase your company is at in this economy to a better version of the Good Company phrase?
 
Often the first step to improve your situation is to be truthful about where you are and the time it will take to improve. When you look at a due diligence checklist for buying a company, you will see a list of potential liabilities including items like the following: reserve needed against receivables, discount for current realizable value of inventories, fixed obligations on rents, pension plans, union contracts, deferred tax obligations, potential carbon tax liabilities, warranties and potential litigation. After truthfully reviewing your balance sheet, how much underwater is your business equity or current operating results versus your targets and goals?
 
Now that you have acknowledged where you really stand financially, the next step is more fun. Crate or update your vision of where you want to me in the future, for example 3 or 5 years from now. Then be specific about how you will know when you have attained that vision. 

1. What will the financial metrics such as revenues, profits and cash flow look like?
2. What will you receive as personal rewards or incentives?
3. What rewards and benefits will your employee and business partners enjoy?
4. What metrics or strategic processes will help you quickly get above water MORE in your business and feel and sense you are in safe operations during this raging economic ocean?

With the new sensory aspects added to your vision, create an initial draft of the plan or program to get from here to there. An old adage is to Plan the Work and Work the Plan. Break the plan into detail steps or milestones you can monitor by time and assign responsibility to. Those smaller chunks build self confidence and provide the ability to check in to make revisions on the upcoming steps. There is a reason people say inch by inch, life is a cinch.

Bottom line? - What is the cost of what you do not know in your business?

Stop Profit Leaks Now. Apply this information to improve your profitability, re-engineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace to check companies vital signs and diagnose problems before unpleasant side effects show up on their balance sheets.

Benefit from his extensive C-level experience in accounting, IT, sales, management, manufacturing and HR to work writing, speaking and consulting on enterprise risk assessment (ERM), risk analysis, corporate governance, and the bottom line impact of going green.