The scoop.

Learning From Your Mistakes

Making a mistake and paying the price is a good way--and the hard way--to learn a lesson. Learning from someone else's mistakes is an easier way. In Why Smart Executives Fail and What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes, Sydney Finkelstein, Professor of Management at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, explores the results of an extensive study to determine the commonalities among once successful, profitable businesses and their leadership that ultimately fail. To learn from someone else's mistakes, to avoid the pitfalls many top executives have faced, or to evaluate the leadership of a company before investing, find out Why Smart Executives Fail. To inquire about this title, please contact the NACM Bookstore at 410.740.5560 or go to www.nacm.org and visit the Bookstore.

How Can Everyone Possibly Do More With Less??

Budget cuts, lay-offs, downsizing, mergers ... you've seen it all recently, and it's affecting staff morale. How can everyone possibly do more with less? One way to maximize your almost non-existent budget is to take advantage of the audio teleconference series offered through NACM's Meetings Department. For only $49.95, you can educate your entire department on a "hot" credit topic or issue. Use your conference room speakerphone, order lunch in and enjoy an hour of relevant, timely educational material. What better way to boost the morale of your department and educate them at the same time?

Upcoming topics include: Current Cases in Bankruptcy (Aug. 11), Preference Debate Update (Aug. 25), Advanced Letters of Credit (Sept. 8), and Debtor in Possession (Sept. 22). For more information visit www.nacm.org or call the NACM Meetings Department at 410.740.5560

Growth in the Economy

Yes--according to the Credit Manager's Index (CMI), the economic indicator published monthly by the National Association of Credit Management, gains are slowing, but the economy still indicates growth, both in the manufacturing and the services sector. The CMI data has been collected and tabulated monthly since February 2002. Published since January 2003, it is based on a survey of about 500 trade credit managers during the last 10 days of the month. The survey asks respondents to comment on whether they are seeing improvement, deterioration, or no change at all for various favorable or unfavorable factors. The CMI has been covered in Bloomberg's, Barrons, Economy.com, and numerous other financial ...