After the summer break, I am back in workshops with top executive teams.
And what I see across industries is unmistakable:
Leadership benches optimized for growth now falter in crisis.
The very reflexes that fueled expansion become liabilities when the headwinds rise.
They were built for growth.
And growth rewards a very specific type of leader:
- the visionary storyteller,
- the optimist who keeps pushing the frontier,
- the charismatic recruiter who scales fast.
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐. ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐๐๐ง:
- stay grounded under pressure,
- put liquidity above vanity metrics,
- invite dissent and actively test assumptions,
- make tough decisions and hard cuts without delay,
- hold paradox - protect the core and create real options for the future.
It requires ๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐๐๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ: the ability to exploit with discipline and explore with curiosity at the same time. Few teams can do this without rewiring.
And it requires a ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐:
- ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ + ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ instead of comfortable conformity.
- A system where truth-telling is rewarded, not punished.
- A team that doesnโt just protect status, but protects learning speed.
This is where many companies break: they try to navigate crisis with yesterdayโs bench design. Theyโre overstaffed with growth players, underdeveloped in crisis capacities.
๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐:
- I challenge leadership teams to face the uncomfortable truths.
- I speak in clear, unvarnished language when others avoid it.
- I help executives expand their range - beyond heroic growth to adaptive stewardship.
- And I support them in building cultures that can metabolize crisis into clarity, renewal, and decisive action.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง:
Is your leadership team truly crisis-ready?
Or still trapped in growth autopilot - while the environment has already changed?
Because survival, adaptation, and renewal will be decided in that room, by that team.
And only those who can shift the culture - and themselves - will make it through.
The hardest truths in the boardroom are often the ones that save the company. My role is to make sure they are spoken.