The article reports on the findings from chief executive officer (CEO) confidence survey in the U.S. It shows that while many of them believe the latest downturn will be short lived, their overall business confidence has dropped. Meanwhile, most of the CEOs surveyed lead organizations with revenues ranging from $25 to $50 million annually. One indicator that the outlook for many organization is headed downward is the 39% of executives who report that they will reduce staff in the next year 2009. Moreover, customer retention efforts closely mirror the ones being used to retain employees.