The Godfather’s "Will Work for Food Tour" has concluded.   One week in Los Angeles, one week in San Francisco and two weeks in Las Vegas.  Conclusion?  Things are tough all over.

Depression 2.0 (when the stock market falls 50%, that is NOT a recession) has affected me in three ways.  First, my travel schedule will be curtailed for the balance of the year.  With no business or revenues, my personal philosophy of "don’t spend money you don’t have" kicks in.  Second, my ability to place executives in exciting new career opportunities is diminished.  Fortunately, most of the "A Players" are huddled down for the next year to ride this out.  Finally, and most importantly, I am not able to lend my time and financial resources to my favorite charity organizations.  Kind of heartbreaking, but this too shall pass.

The interesting news for me over the last month was two fold.  My clients in San Francisco communicated that high tech has taken a major hit from the economy.  Hardware and software are capital expenditures, so I guess that does make sense.  Also, quite a bit of executive movement in Las Vegas.  People getting out of the casino business, people leaving Las Vegas in a big way (traffic is way better!) and executives just trying to find that right opportunity.  When the economy rebounds in 2010, it’s going to get interesting!