“Trust, but verify.”

Many may recall these words as one of the cornerstones of the Reagan administration’s policy regarding Soviet nuclear capability.

The same admonition holds true in today’s stressful world of the entrepreneur.

Most small businesses that have managed to struggle through difficult times have done so because they took action. Whether they were ahead of the recession curve or reacting to the curve, actions were taken to protect or even enhance the survivability of the enterprise.

Unfortunately, some saw these remedies more as band aids aimed at addressing a specific injury. If the competitive world were indeed static, this might work, but we all know that it is not. The ever-changing dynamics of this hypercompetitive world require a level of flexibility and adaptability the likes of which we have never been seen before.

So while the majority of action-based entrepreneurial leaders have considered options and consequences and then taken difficult implementation steps, this is just a first step of the needed process.

For example, have the price decreases effectively halted the revenue slide? Have the cost decreases effectively minimized the margin erosion? Are the precious advertising dollars generating the anticipated increase in lead generation? Are all the actions that we are taking really working?

Answers to these and a host of other questions will do a couple of things for the business owner/manager. First, given the increasingly limited capacity of many firms to absorb operational inefficiencies, it is critical that clarity of effectiveness be at the forefront. Effectiveness is the correct action brought to bear upon the correct problem. Survivability is not governed solely by action; rather it is dependent upon effective action.

The complexities of today’s marketplace sometimes make the identification of the correct problem a bit elusive. But the effectiveness of any new programs can always be determined through measurement against pre-established goals.

As a side benefit, this discipline of measurement in itself can sometimes assist in determining the difference between problems and symptoms of problems. Managers who understand the ever-evolving nature of this process approach are always in the position to take correction. Even if they are incorrect in their initial problem identification, sooner or later they will get it.

Second, a disciplined verification of results provides a direct antidote to potentially debilitating stress through a focus on controllable action as opposed to noncontrollable events.

While there are no shortages of media reports on the psychological toll that the marketplace correction is wreaking, there clearly emerge two distinct mindsets. Some see themselves as a hammer; others see themselves as the nail. The important thing to note here is that both are in the process of being hit, but the control and subsequent anticipated result are clearly different.

Recent economic reports are causing some folks to believe that the worst of the recession is over and happy days again are just a matter of time. Don’t you believe them.

There are structural changes that have occurred in our economy and no one knows their full ramifications and implications. In the meantime, your ability to weather the storm will be connected to having the right solutions for the right programs.

Trust your gut, make the hard decisions, implement them to the best of your ability, and verify that what you intended is in fact happening. Know and take comfort in two business facts — survival is a process and hammers live longer than nails.

John F. Riddell Jr., director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth-Hamilton County, writes every other Tuesday about entrepreneurs and their impact on companies and the marketplace. Submit comments to his attention by writing to Business Editor John Vass Jr., Chattanooga Times Free Press, P.O. Box 1447, Chattanooga, TN 37401-1447, or by e-mailing him at business@timesfreepress.com