The Opportunity In Volatility

Will Trump derail the economy? Maybe. Will Trump create a golden era of American manufacturing? Maybe. Will we end up in recession? Maybe. Will your business thrive, despite the headwinds? Again, maybe.

If that all sounds rather Buddhist, apologies. But “maybe” may be the truest thing we can say about the current wild moment. There is, without question, a lot of volatility and uncertainty right now brought on by MAGA Washington and it is making a lot of people nervous—especially CEOs and board members according to our polling—no matter how they voted.

It’s a good moment to remember what you all know (and what you’ve all experienced, likely multiple times): In every era of radical change, some companies end up stronger, more agile and better positioned than before. You don’t need to beat the overall economy to win. You only need to beat your rivals.

Leadership is the difference. To that end, here are some ideas for thriving in uncertainty, cribbed over the years from the CEO community as well as some of the best minds in business (Ram Charan, Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni, Fred Reicheld, Marshall Goldsmith, Verne Harnish, Adam Echter, and many more). You know all this already, but it can’t hurt to be reminded:

Abundance mindset. As bestselling author Stephen M.R. Covey pointed out for an upcoming interview, this world contains plenty of everything we need to thrive, and that will be even more true as AI grants us extra helpings of our prized commodity: time.

Control what you can control. Obsessed with the news? Ask yourself: is it helping you lead or is it just exciting/habitual. Monitor your media consumption and that of your senior team and focus on the trade data that impacts you directly.

Refocus on the customer. When things are topsy-turvy, it is grounding to remind people that the point of all this effort is the customer. Without them, there’s no business. Don’t let operational thrum drown that out.

Build energy and urgency. Pull together a war room. Signal an acceleration in rhythm. Put time on the calendar, dedicate a physical space, pull together HR, finance, purchasing, sales, operations, whoever else for a high-cadence group. Push them to look for opportunity—not just patching holes.

Pricing flexibility=profits. This is essential. Inflation is likely to rise, tariffs—even the threat of tariffs—will present opportunity for profitability, if you can add surcharges and get smart about adjusting with agility. Make sure you can.

Get out of your office. Hunker in the bunker is not a winning strategy. Don’t delegate listening and connecting. Get on the phone, get on a plane. Show up for customers, suppliers, trade groups, lawmakers, regulators, industry conferences. Learn a ton, grow the network, bank goodwill, and get smarter while your rivals stay home.

Create esprit de corps. Some people, some teams just get better as the pace accelerates and the challenges mount. You know who they are. Give them the ball and let them run. Their energy is contagious.

Cull. Inertia thrives in good times. This is the moment to revisit projects, people, ideas that you likely lacked the energy or discipline to examine closely in blue-sky weather. Then make some choices. Narrow your focus.

Don’t sacrifice the future. The places not to cut? Automation, R&D, AI pilots, digital transformation, training, etc. You want to grow stronger while others grow weaker. 

Revisit comp. It’s been tough to have tough conversations here for a while. Realign around what—and who—builds actual value in your company.

Map the opportunities. Companies you really like, salespeople your salespeople hate competing against, customers you wish you had—they may all become available. Ask your front-line folks for thoughts. Reach out to rivals. You never know who’s ready to deal.

And finally, Communicate, communicate, communicate. No matter your political affiliation or your team’s, no matter where you think all this is going, it is irrefutable that there is a lot of change happening all at once. My favorite quote on the job of CEOs in moments like this comes from Greg Brenneman, who turned around Continental Airlines: “Absorb fear, exude hope.” And be ready for opportunity.

To that point: While your rivals are hunkering and bunkering, join us for three extraordinary new programs tailor-made to help you gain ground in the months ahead:

• Manufacturing Leadership Summit. The toolbox for uncertain times. We’ll get into AI, automation, tariffs, trade, supply chain, innovation and you’ll come away with a tailwind.
• Patrick Lencioni & Stephen M.R. Covey. Two of our community’s favorites together for an extraordinary virtual session to help prime your team to win.
• The Scaling Up Growth Summit: While others slow down, you can Scale Up with this pragmatic program crafted for growth-focused teams and leaders.