As 2010 draws to a close, the economy of most of the developed world remains weak, with less-than-rosy prospects for 2011.  When historians look back at the Great Recession of 2008/2009 (which although officially over, is still painfully present for too many), they are likely to identify this moment in economic history as the Great Turning Point - the time at which the world's economic tectonic plates shifted between the developed, western economies and the developing, eastern economies. 

Although the shift has been decades in the making, its disruptive forces have been anything but gradual.  When massive speculative bubbles and unsustainable lifestyles, financed by excessive western "borrowing" (in the form of massive trade imbalances), simultaneously burst across developed economies, the damage was severe.  The shoddy and shady practices of many of our largest financial institutions, deemed to be "standard practice" after years of lax government regulation and oversight, compounded the damage.  And the aftershocks will probably continue for years to come.

So what does this mean for you and the organization for which you work?  How do you create greater economic resilience - a capacity to endure frequent and often unpredictable change-for yourself, your organization, and its employees?  Interestingly, the answers are probably more similar than different for people and organizations in both the developed west and the developing east:

1. Invest in the economic elixir of learning.  It makes both people and organizations more adaptable, more able to respond to change, more nimble.  It serves as the bedrock for change and innovation; it is impossible to do either without learning something new.  And when learning occurs in workplaces, it is one of those rarest of opportunities - where employers' and employees' incentives can be in perfect harmony. 

2. Become more analytic.  In times of massive uncertainty, hope should not be considered a strategy.  You can develop an informed path forward - a roadmap - that tells you where to invest and where not to, when your strategy is working, as well as when it isn't.  This requires that you know what to measure, and how to turn data into insights.

3. Take steps to reduce unnecessary uncertainty.  Globalization has spread shock waves of uncertainty around the world, and created a craving for certainty.  Organizations that fail to address people's desire for certainty - among both their employees and customers - will be outperformed by those that recognize this desire for certainty, and take steps wherever possible to create it.