Harvesting resilience from the seeds of disruption

The thing about disruption is that it’s always coming toward us. No matter how well we’ve adapted to the last thing, there’s always a next thing. Because disruption is part of the fabric of business, cultivating a mindset and practices that embrace disruption can help position organizations to be more resilient and successful.

The seeds of most disruption can be seen far in advance. For example, recent advances in artificial intelligence are not a total surprise, but many are trying to quickly come up to speed to understand which of the new capabilities should be adopted. Even the Fed rate increases that started in 2022 were telegraphed months ahead of time, yet parts of the industry were slow to adapt.

It’s not so much an issue of being surprised as it is of not being fully ready. Being ready means having thought through and articulated how the coming disruption affects the business model, how any new solutions or practices will ideally be incorporated (if at all), and any mitigating actions that should be taken to prepare. Some disruptions like COVID-19 and geopolitical upheaval were surprises. In those cases, strong team leadership, resilient people and the agility to pivot quickly along with efficient operations with enough income and capital to weather a storm are key.

 

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