Now, I'm not suggesting "irrational exuberance" again. First of all, it's not warranted (yet), and giddiness about the economy didn't really help last time. And I'm also not asking that people forget what happened during the boom. Some companies and executives absolutely earned the right to get nothing but disrespect and doubt.

If we are ever to get competitive again, though, we can't indiscriminately put a negative spin on what is legitimately good news. We live in a global economy; India and China get stronger and better every single day. To have a fighting chance, companies need to get every employee, with every idea in their heads and every morsel of energy in their bodies, into the game.