A common saying is "Live each day as if it's your last," and there is some wisdom in that. Lately though, I've been thinking about living as if there were a zombie apocalypse. The more I think about it, the more I believe the principle applies to business as well.

In a zombie apocalypse, resources are extremely limited. You must preserve water, fuel, food and other necessities because they are far less renewable when there is no electricity to run pumping stations, factories and transport. You must use your budget of supplies wisely and make smarter choices about what is necessary and what is nice to have. Nobody wastes water washing their car in zombie-land. You must rationalize what belongs in your portfolio of "needs" so you can focus your energy and resources solving the new challenges in your path.

You face competition from other survivors who want your supplies, just as in business you fight for market share. You need to be innovative to not only provide yourself with the necessities of life in your "new normal," but also to fend off zombie intruders and compete with the living.

Consider anti-zombie weapon development. The reality of the situation is that you don't have months to find a solution to the problem of zombie attack; you may have seconds. You need to be agile both physically and mentally to survive. You need to examine the resources you have on hand. Wood, abandoned car parts and whatever you can find in a tool shed may be used in innovative ways, and you can take a lesson from the principles of Agile development methodology to improve speed of weapons system delivery and continuous improvement.

If you're maximizing your resources by selecting the right things to invest in, eliminating waste and focusing your attention on rapid innovations to reduce risk and outpace the competition, all while maintaining the necessities of life, I'd say you're doing the right things to survive in a zombie wasteland... or in today's economic climate.

This photo is from Wikimedia Commons.