Perspectives from Rebecca Homkes
Downturns are a great time to grow
When a system shock occurs, our instinct is to view this - and the uncertainty it creates - as negative. And as organizational leaders, negative is often equated to a possible downturn. The SRT playbook asks you to reframe how you view shocks and uncertainty: rather than inherently bad, instead see this environment as one with possible upsides. Opportunities are always available to those who are prepared, stabilized, and willing to undergo resets.
But what happens when a shock does produce a market downturn, or recession? They are often accompanied by a self-reinforcing cycle of fear, which leads to panic and premature freezing of spending and investing, which translates into the slowing of capital flows and the beginning of lay-offs, which leads to more panic. These effects can ripple through public and private markets into consumer sentiment, and the doom spiral begins. But macro downturns are not necessarily micro downturns.
If you are prepared - embrace these times, as downturns can be a great time to grow!
Nuance in, Noise Out
Great strategy lives at the intersection of tensions.
Leaders have always operated within these tensions, but the pressure of change on the system is heightened. Daily news cycles have become hourly, with orders and announcements constantly flooding the zone of information. Tariffs, tensions, taxes – it’s a turbulent news cycle, and it can feel difficult to keep up.
As leaders, how do we incorporate the right information that will impact our strategy while filtering out the distractions? Bringing nuance in and noise out to thrive during external uncertainty comes from building internal predictability.
How to plan for 2025? Don't! You need to shift from planning to preparing
Nothing feels more comforting to a leader than starting the New Year with the annual plan. But ironically, the more planning is done, the less progress is made.
Why? Because the only thing we can be certain of in the year ahead is uncertainty.
Does Macro matter? Linking macro trends to strategy
We’re a few days away from a pivotal election in the USA, geopolitical tensions remain fraught, strikes at companies such as Boeing and ports pose questions as to future supply shocks, and a persisting economic overhang means demand pressure remain a concern. But the bigger question, and a frequent one I get from leadership teams, is does macro even matter? When developing a strategy, how much, if at all, do macro trends matter?
It’s time to RESET, again: The Discipline of the Reset
Don’t just Survive - Thrive! While a popular phrase, and one that we hear increasingly after market turbulence, it misses the critical point. Just surviving will not get you to Thrive. If you are not prepared to go through a Reset — and if you are not prepared to manage the changes that come along with it — you will likely not get to Thrive. The power is in the Reset.
And now, even more uncertainty: Reframing uncertainty as a growth mindset
When we entered 2024, uncertainty was at the top of every leadership agenda. Election uncertainty, regulatory uncertainty, AI uncertainty, geopolitical uncertainty. The list of trends with consequential unknowns is long and growing. And over the past few weeks, organizations based in or connected to the USA got another jolt of uncertainty as the 2024 Presidential elections shifted in course once more.