What Successful Businesses Do During Uncertain Times
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Illustration by Dan Page
I've seen the same pattern play out time and time again, through downturns and uncertain times.
When uncertainty rises, many founders retreat into a bunker.
They pull in their horns. They batten down the hatches. They stop investing. They stop hiring.
They tell themselves they're being prudent.
I saw it in the early 80s (I’m that old!). Again in the early 90s. In 2008. And in 2020.
I did it myself in 2008.
A business I was involved with at the time, a well-established multi £m B2B services company, was badly hit. Revenues and new business fell off a cliff almost overnight.
We cut marketing and R&D.
We made painful redundancies.
We paused our advisers.
The business survived, but it took a long time to thrive again.
I'm seeing this behaviour happen now. Quietly. Sensible businesses making defensive decisions that feel right in the moment.
However, the businesses that come out the other side of downturns and uncertain times stronger and, in many cases, transformed, are generally the ones that do the opposite.
They don't retreat.
They move.
Not recklessly. Not loudly. But with clarity.
They make the hard calls others avoid. They invest where others cut. They have the conversations others postpone until things feel 'more settled.'
Things never feel more settled. You’ve just got to take action anyway.
Almost a year ago, I wrote Are You Really Ready for Change? That question has only sharpened since.
Because wanting change and being ready for it aren't the same thing. And, in tough times, the gap between them is exactly where businesses stall.
Usually, this is where I'd suggest a conversation. Instead, I'm doing something different.
I've built a short self-assessment that just takes a few minutes to complete.
It's for founders navigating uncertainty.
It asks you the kind of questions I'd ask you: about your mindset, your openness to being challenged, your readiness to do what thriving, not just surviving, demands.
At the end, you get a tailored report. Written in my voice. Honest. Direct. No sales pitch.
The reason I'm suggesting this is that a lot of good founders are tempted to make decisions they’ll quietly regret. Not through lack of ability, but through the gravitational pull of the bunker.
If this resonates, better that you see it now… than a year down the road.
You may already sense what you’re avoiding. This will help you define it, and find out what to do about it.
