Rogue Waves

Batten down the hatches before a rogue wave sweeps your business away.

Even the grandest sea vessels can fall victim to rogue waves. Your business, likewise, may sail along unimpeded for years before an unexpected crisis arises and washes over you, destroying everything you built. In an increasingly unpredictable world of economic uncertainty, pandemics, political volatility and social activism, you must understand how to navigate inevitable waves of change to protect your company’s well-being.

Traditional business philosophies, such as Competitive Strategy and the Blue Ocean, no longer suffice. Today’s executives must prepare for sudden, unanticipated events that alter the landscape. To illustrate, eight of the top ten publicly traded American companies neglected to list pandemics as a risk factor in their SEC paperwork. Only Apple and CVS were smart enough to do so.

Organizations’ underlying assumptions often fall apart when the going gets tough. Never assume, for example, that short-term value guarantees security in the long run. Traditional thinking holds that organizations adjust from within, but modern...