Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you.

This piece of folksy wisdom might seem a bit out of place in a business article, but the interesting thing about folk wisdom is that it usually hides a deeper truth. The sentence above certainly does, and the thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the curious fact that some companies seem to thrive in adversity.

I'm sure you've noticed. The market (or the marketplace) turns against a company, right or wrong, and much of the time, when that happens, the company facing the trouble either finds itself struggling, or it finds itself out of business. Sometimes though, certain companies apparently glide through the trouble unscathed and these seem to thrive in adverse conditions without effort.

The reality is that there's nothing special or magical about these companies and that what they're doing is a conscious choice. A design decision in action. There is effort involved, and in most cases, intense, Herculean effort, but the companies that are most adept at navigating these waters make it seem simple and easy.

Here's what they know that you don't

For businesses, a hostile environment takes one of two forms (or a combination of the two for a potential third). Either a hostile market - cast your mind back to December 2007 for a case in point of what a hostile market looks like - or a hostile marketplace (look at Exxon in the wake of the Valdez spill for a great example of what a suddenly hostile marketplace looks like).

Thriving in a hostile market requires a different set of skills and resources than thriving in a hostile marketplace, but there is some overlap.

PR is more than just a thing you have to do sometimes, it's also a weapon. PR can actually be a powerful weapon in the right hands. You can use it to make your opponents and competition look foolish (play repeated clips of a former President saying "I believe that human being and fish can coexist peacefully", then simply stand back and watch the hysterics)or you can make yourself look like a Saint (Tylenol's exquisite handling of their poisoned pill supply in the 80's should be required reading for anyone even vaguely interested in business and the power of PR).

It's Got To Be Real

In this case, however, I'm not talking about PR just for PR's sake, I'm talking about genuine outreach and involvement. If you want to survive in a hostile environment, then the first order of business is to make yourself a part of the community. You might be viewed with hostility and suspicion initially, but if you can demonstrate over the course of time with words and deeds that you're not the monster the marketplace first assumed you to be, then you'll find it to be a pretty forgiving place.

Make yourself indispensable

During the Great Recession, people cut back on lots of things. They stopped taking vacations. They stopped going out to dinner. They canceled cable and the extra line they had on their cell phone plan. You know what they didn't do? They didn't stop eating. They still bought clothes. Spending on these items barely budged, all through the recession. These were just areas in which cutbacks weren't made to any significant degree. How wonderful to be in that hallowed club. How safe it must feel to have a product or service that is so highly regarded...so well thought of that even in desperate financial times and circumstances, people refuse to give it up.

Put yourself in that category. Make your customers fall so desperately in love with what you're selling them that they will loathe to give you up, no matter how bad things get. You do that by a) offering a killer product or service to begin with, b) by being responsive to your customers and having great, compelling conversations with them, and c) by engaging with them in the communities they live in. Become not just this thing they buy or this service they use, but a part of their family, and make them a part of yours. When times get bad, you might stop having the neighbors over for Sunday brunch, but you don't kick family out. Be family.

Surviving in a hostile environment isn't easy. It's hard, and often thankless work, but you can make it look easy by mastering a few skills that most businesses simply ignore or overlook. Don't be like most businesses. Be exceptional, be remarkable, and be remembered as such!