By Mike Myatt, Chief StrategyOfficer, N2growthI don't know about you, butI've heard far too many commercial real estateprofessionals use the current state of the economy as anexcuse for whatever hardship they are currently facing. It wascomforting to read a blog post by Kevin Maggiacomo, Presidentand CEO of Sperry Van Ness entitled "Leadershipin a Down Market" call a spade a spade...Not only is Kevin oneof the few commercial real estate CEOs who has jumped on thesocial media bandwagon, but he also doesn't mince words whenassessing the current landscape (a man after my ownheart). Kevin's post eludes to a premise that I want tofurther flesh out in this week's column, which is , that goodbusinesses flourish regardless of current economiccircumstances.Not only do good companies survive bad markets, thebest run companies expand market share and brand equity withgreater velocity, and in a more dominant fashion during downeconomic cycles. Furthermore, the market gives us daily examplesthat good deals get done even in the worst of times. My pointis that while down markets will adversely impact the ill prepared,and even weed-out weaker players, the same is not true of wellrun companies or tier-one talent. As Kevin points out in his blog,and I concur, the real players do what they need to do to adapttheir business models and market approaches to reflect thecurrent times.In the brokerage sector, CBRE, Colliers andSprerry Van Ness were quick to adapt their business models andoperating practices to place a strong emphasis on the governmentand financial sectors to position themselves to serve theneeds of the distressed assets community. In the transactionmanagement industry, Real Capital Markets has developed aninnovative platform to increase exposure and transparencyassociated with the marketing of institutional assets, and ARGUSand Yardi continue to pioneer financialanalytics and business process automation. These are just afew examples of companies that continue to innovate and grow ratherthan complain and dwindle...If you're thriving in thiseconomy because of innovation, leadership, andprofessionalism leave me a comment, and if you think I've beentoo harsh vent away, but whatever you do, stop usingthe economy as an excuse and do what you need to do in orderto position yourself for sustainable success...