The Chinese may be calling it the Year of the Ox but in the Middle East — not to mention everywhere in the developed world — it will be the Year of the Real Man, a period in which the new austerity will have no time for fads. Straight talking, in-it-for-the-long-haul, is in; short term, fast buck is well and truly out. We are already seeing the wheat being threshed from the chaff; the men separated from the boys. Call it what you will. Quite simply, those who did not plan for the future, who did not factor-in a potential crisis, are paying the price. Those who did and who can endure, who can stick by their staff, their team and their suppliers will strengthen their market share when the economic sun will shine again. The market will respect their resilience in the buffeting winds of the global meltdown. There
