BRYAN'S BLOG

Strategising with so much uncertainty

Uncertainty? What uncertainty? The one thing that is certain is that there will always be uncertainty!

I’ve been thinking more deeply recently about the problems leaders like you are potentially dealing with. One of the most pressing problems falls on the demand side of your business. Some customers may have gone out of business or completely shut down for now. Others are hurting badly and cutting costs any way they can. While many others are tightening purse strings even though they have not been too badly impacted as yet. Why? Uncertainty as to what is coming next. Even your customers who are doing really well right now have uncertainty as to how long the good times will continue to roll.

Having been immersed in this thinking last week, I was speaking to a friend who is the CFO of a large Australian company in the construction supply chain. He asked how I was doing through COVID. One thing I commented on, was that the extra time not travelling had allowed me (perhaps given me the energy) to do some really good, deeper work.

He commented he was envious of me having time for deep thinking. “Here in big corporate we are reacting and scenario planning and trying to work out how to deliver on our strategy with all the uncertainty of what might be or not be over the coming months. I said to him “Adaptive Leadership! That is what I have been deep thinking about these past couple of months. The leadership style best suited to navigating our way through the coming months. Let me send you a paper on it.”

If you have not already done so, you can get my paper on Adaptive Leadership here.

Then keep an eye out for my upcoming blogs as I plan on going deeper again on Adaptive Leadership in the lead up to a session I am running for CEOs, CFOs and Heads of Commercial. It’s titled Find Your Future: What is the smartest move an adaptive leader could make right now?

Let me know if you think an invite should be coming your way or if you know someone I should be inviting. More information on the event can be found below.

Stay safe and adapt – quickly.