John Madden famously asserted that the prevent defense only prevents teams from winning. Being too careful when your competition is taking big swings can end badly. Then again, so can sticking to your regular game plan.

This is also one way to frame the economy as we prepare for 2024. Unless you're in a sweet spot—hello, those helping to build semiconductor plants around the country—you're likely weighing a range of strategies for how to handle an environment one banker recently told me combines "a lot of opportunity with a lot of execution risk."

As for Madden's quip: Jim Schwartz much later responded that "sometimes it pays to be boring." Next year might be one of those years.

— Geert De Lombaerde