Leadership is at the heart of our recovery. Here are five key points that I hope will help businesses to prosper in the coming year:

Stay positive but recognise the reality of your situation
Obama’s campaign is the clearest possible demonstration of the power of positive thought – don’t allow negative thinking to overcome your business, but focus on successes and the opportunities ahead.

Take a new approach
Don’t be afraid to be creative – from the ashes of the dot-com crash rose Google, FaceBook and MySpace - so use the downturn as an opportunity to actively search for better ways to deliver your services and consider new areas to develop.

Have clear objectives
Particularly for the next 12 months, pin down what you want to achieve and stick to the strategy whilst being prepared to adapt and be flexible with small ones – like Obama’s campaign, don’t let competitor pressures pull you off course.

Focus on people’s strengths
This is the crux of ‘talent liberation’ – recognise the talents within your team and align their roles and responsibilities to maximise that talent.

Lead!
Now is no time to hide in the boardroom – CEOs and managers need to be engaging more than ever with staff, clients and stakeholders and communicating their vision for the business.

Russell Evans is the MD of organisational development consultancy Primeast.