Austin Business Community
I heard Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics 12 years ago and was told by senior chairs and members then that if you listen to their data based beliefs and follow their analytical approach you and your business owner members and senior executives will have a very profitable and sustainable successful business relationship. ITR have been Vistage’s economists since I have been chairing my Austin business owner peer groups, facilitating monthly meetings and conducting 121 coaching sessions for the past 12 years. So let me strongly suggest you spend the next 24 hours focusing on your YTD vs. LYTD rate-of-change, both from a 3 month/12 month (3/12) view and 12/ month/12month (12/12) view. 2018 is 5/12th of the way to being yesterday’s news. Where are you?
We all hear the pronouncements about different optimism indices, and they are usually portrayed as harbingers of the longer-term future. I recently had a pleasant conversation with a US Congressman in which he was telling me that the very high level in the Small Business Optimism Index meant that the economy was going to continue to expand and that the new tax law was “working” as designed. He told me that perception equals reality. ITR Economics, however, takes an analytical approach to our consulting work. We use leading indicators and ITR Checking Points™. The Small Business Optimism Index is not in our toolkit. Here is why:
Nondefense Capital Goods New Orders (excluding aircraft) (i.e., capital expenditure (CapEx) is a great tool for measuring B2B activity. The 12/12 rate-of-change (blue line on the graph) measures the business cycle pressure.
- 1. A look at the chart shows that the correlation is low, which means that the monthly optimism index throws off a lot of false signals. The fact that the Optimism Index is positive doesn’t give a strong indication of what to expect in CapEx.
- 2. The optimism index typically leads the CapEx 12/12 through highs (when it actually signals a high) by just one month (post the Great Recession). There is almost no advance warning from the index in regard to a coming shift in CapEx.
The Optimism Index reached a high in February of this year, signaling a March peak in the positive business cycle momentum in CapEx. Readers of the ITR Trends Report™ and ITR Insider™ know that a near-term peak is likely in CapEx, based on leading indicators that have a proven track record and look months into the future. The problem is that the Small Business Optimism Index gives almost no warning, and even worse, many people believe it is a harbinger of the longer-term future, when in fact it essentially looks no further than tomorrow.
Alan Beaulieu
President
Published by edstillman
I grew up in Carlsbad, north San Diego County, lost my dad as a teenager, went into the USAF for four years and hired on with 3M in 1969. Received my AA from Santa Barbara City College, BA and Masters from Redlands University and after 33 plus years, I retired from 3M in 2002. As I look back on my life, I have been creating myself and developing my skill sets to be a business coach and a Vistage Chair. I am president of SEOT, a "personal improvement" consulting firm spending most of my time working with Central Texas executives running small to medium size for-profit companies who are focusing on improving their profitability greater than their competition. My area of interest is assisting senior executives in creating a better balance between business commitments and personal relationships. I also facilatate three leadership labs each consisting of a dozen owners, presidents and CEOs. We meet monthly both in a group setting as well as in a 1-to-1 coaching session. Our focus is to sharpen each others' skills in becoming better leaders, making better decisions and taking ourselves and companies to that next level.
Who are we? My members are experienced top executives who recognize that they don’t have all the answers and who actively seek the company of successful peers—both to give and receive insights and ideas. My members mine the 200 plus years of chief executive experience that comes together in our monthly meetings and members are eager to offer their own experience and insights in the process.
As a group, we spend our time exploring topics members can't discuss anywhere else. My members have many other places where they can engage in idle, "cocktail party" chatter. Our mission is to provide the setting for discussing the "undiscussable."
Where or who can you go to for confidential, honest feedback to assist you in minimizing your personal "Worry List"?
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Austin Vistage | Ed Stillman 