At the 2018 EY Strategic Growth Forum, the advice given to the invite-only annual conference for leading US-executive leaders was based on the following key elements:

• Establish a purpose
• Create a solid foundation
• Contemplate the future
• Customer prioritization.

Steve Costello summed up some more of the outcomes of the conference.  He speaks about the advice given from jewelry designer Kendra Scott on the importance of setting up an advisory board.  This is important, not necessarily for advice but to maintain a strong system of checks and balances.  She advised:

“Report to them quarterly like a public company and have biannual planning meetings with them.  We all have biases, so select balanced, deep thinkers who’ve known you a long time and can easily identify your blind spots.Like your best mentors, they’ll give you the perspective you don’t want to hear.”

co-founder of the organic baby food brand Once Upon a Farm Jennifer Garner advises using the business you establish to help fund causes dear to your heart.  She explained:

“I’m in business because I’m sick of asking people for money. I … generate money by getting people to buy a product that helps them and can help someone else.” And she has proceeds of her company donated to the Ron Finley Project which provides healthy food and access to urban gardens in underserved LA communities.

Regarding stocks,it is anticipated that there will be a “modest recovery” next year mainly due to “pressure from higher interest rates and concerns about peaking earnings growth. Investing in smaller, domestically focused companies had been among the most popular strategies in 2018, as tariff tensions and a fiscal stimulus boost made them into safe havens.” 

In fact, many economic experts anticipate a And in general, US economic growth is expected to be very small next year, with an even deeper drop in growth levels in the second quarter.  Thankfully few believe that it is likely to result in a huge recession.