Granted, companies became lean and nimble, but excessive chopping in many cases led to the corporate equivalent of anorexia. In peak periods, companies have been forced to out-source work, often, ironically, for a premium to their own laid-off employees—you know, the ones with the training and expertise to do the job. Downsizing, meet "dumbsizing."

Gerald Celente, head of the Trends Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., says major firms have gone beyond downsizing to "dumbsizing" — and are "seriously cutting into their muscle."

We thought you'd want to know that for 1993 Indians are in and cowboys are out; blame is in and responsibility out, and dumbsizing is in and downsizing out. Or, so it says in something called "The Trends Journal: The Authority on Trend Management."