Retailers Have to Adopt "Must-Do" Spirit

A global financial crisis, a history-making presidential election, spiking commodity prices, massive layoffs and fears of a protracted recession. Looks like just another day at the office.

It has been a chaotic year, one that we’ll likely read about in our golden years and tell our grandchildren, “Oh, that 2008, it was a doozie.” While my teenage kids don’t yet have the perspective to judge the wildness of 2008, they’ll surely tell their kids about it.

Major industries are being tested, and it looks like we’re at the beginning of an industrial paradigm shift that will affect and dictate future government policy on energy, trade, economic investment and globalization. That’s the story on a macro level.