HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Managing in a Downturn, Expanded Edition

How do the most resilient companies survive—and even thrive—during a slowdown?

If you read nothing else on surviving a tough economy and coming back stronger, read these 15 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help your company persevere through economic challenges and continue to grow while your competitors stumble.

This book will inspire you to:

• Harness your resources to pull through a pandemic
• Learn the right lessons from previous recessions
• Minimize pain while cutting costs and managing risk
• Foster a healthy culture during anxious times
• Make smart moves to protect your own job
• Seize the opportunity to innovate and reinvent your business

This collection of articles includes “Seize Advantage in a Downturn” by David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter; “How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward: A Research Roundup” by Walter Frick; “How to Bounce Back from Adversity” by Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz; “Rohm and Haas’s Former CEO on Pulling off a Sweet Deal in a Down Market” by Raj Gupta; “How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy” by Robert I. Sutton; “Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company” by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta; “Getting Reorgs Right” by Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood; “Reigniting Growth” by Chris Zook and James Allen; “Reinvent Your Business Model Before It’s Too Late” by Paul Nunes and Tim Breene; “How to Protect Your Job in a Recession” by Janet Banks and Diane Coutu; “Learning from the Future” by J. Peter Scoblic; “5 Ways to Stimulate Cash Flow in a Downturn” by Eddie Yoon and Christopher Lochhead; “The Case for M&A in a Downturn” by Brian Salsberg; “Include Your Employees in Cost-Cutting Decisions” by Patrick Daoust and Paul Simon; and “Preparing Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World” by Carsten Lund Pedersen and Thomas Ritter.

HBR’s 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR’s 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever‐changing business environment.