Make no mistake about it -- the current economic downdraft is having serious consequences across our nation -- and around the globe -- and there is no end yet in sight. However, it's at times like these -- when everyone seems to be placing their bets on a continued downward slide -- that great companies are built, and that sigificance is found. This fact has been borne out time and time again by many of today’s greatest companies, which either began or grew substantially during recessions and/or depressions.

Did you know, for example, that General Electric started during the panic of 1873 (i.e., “The Long Depression”). Or that Disney started during the post-war recession of 1923-24, Hewlett-Packard began during the Great Depression, and Microsoft was founded during the oil crisis in the mid-1970s? It's true. Moreover, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg, GE, Disney, nearly every airline, and Chevrolet all bucked the trend and actually expanded during the Great Depression. Efforts by Procter & Gamble during the Great Depression have been labeled by historians as being the most innovative and successful business approach any business took during that time. Disney comes in a close second and the Depression served as a great “incubator” time for that company.

So, rather than getting caught up in all the doom and gloom in today's news, why not take the contrarian point of view? Some of the great companies of tomorrow are being started and grown today. Fifty or one hundred years from now, someone will make a list of the great companies that emerged from the current recession. What can you -- no, what will you -- do to make sure your company is on that list?