How should a business respond to an economic shock?

Keep the gears moving. Build relationships, do business development, develop new products, double the energy going into serving your market, work on your marketing, coach your leaders, and consider replacing chronic underperformers with motivated people.

What should individuals do in a downturn?

Develop new skills, find creative ways to contribute by examining how problems can be solved differently, and build relationships. When unemployment is high, the people who deliver solutions and performance under pressure enjoy the most job security.

Why treat a crisis as a forcing function?

Necessity is the mother of invention, and hard constraints surface solutions you could not have found in easier times. Businesses that stay aggressive through a disruption come out ahead of the ones that wait it out.

Don't Lie Down in the Snow · Ambassador Group

In this piece

Stay Active, Stay Aggressive
For businesses: keep the gears moving
For people: build what the moment requires
This too shall pass
Questions, answered

About the author

TJ Kastning

Founder & Managing Partner

TJ founded Ambassador Group after years recruiting for construction organizations, watching misaligned leadership decisions cost projects, margin, and morale. He believes hiring is a deep leadership discipline, not just a transactional function. It shapes culture, capacity, and long-term outcomes. His work with clients focuses on clarifying expectations, surfacing assumptions, and helping leaders think more clearly about the environments they are creating. TJ is involved in every search as guide and thought partner.

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Stay Active, Stay Aggressive

We need to respond aggressively and wisely to the Covid-19 crisis.One critical element is to keep the economy moving in every way reasonable so that the financial impact on businesses, and consequently the people that work in them, are impacted as little as possible. The cost to the world economy will be measured in the tens of trillions of dollars.Italy is seeing significant economy trouble from their shutdown which is impacting people down to the level of their daily food. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/opinion/italy-coronavirus-naples.html?searchResultPosition=1

For businesses: keep the gears moving

BUSINESSES; keep your gears moving as much as possible. Working from home. Building relationships. Do business development. Develop new products. Double the amount of energy you are outputting to serve your market. Develop your marketing. Find new ways to be of value to your customers. Think about coaching your leaders. Consider replacing chronic underperformers with motivated players. This is not break time, it goes time!

For people: build what the moment requires

PEOPLE; develop new skills, find creative ways to contribute at work by examining how problems can be innovatively solved, build your relationships, and DON'T BINGE NETFLIX. Unemployment is brutally high and those who can deliver solutions and performance under pressure are going to enjoy the most job security. And, frankly, the world is going to rely on you to pull us out of this. Necessity is the mother of invention, so take advantage of that! Find new ways to solve the problem that you COULD NOT have in easier times. It's a chilly economic environment out there so we have to stay active.

This too shall pass

DO NOT LAY DOWN IN THE SNOW AND GO TO THE LIGHT! We are going to be solving this economic problem long after the Coronavirus has been annihilated. Some businesses are going to do really well because they are staying aggressive and leveraging the silver-lining this crisis offers. This too shall pass.

Questions, answered

The short version.

How should a business respond to an economic shock?: Keep the gears moving. Build relationships, do business development, develop new products, double the energy going into serving your market, work on your marketing, coach your leaders, and consider replacing chronic underperformers with motivated people.
What should individuals do in a downturn?: Develop new skills, find creative ways to contribute by examining how problems can be solved differently, and build relationships. When unemployment is high, the people who deliver solutions and performance under pressure enjoy the most job security.
Why treat a crisis as a forcing function?: Necessity is the mother of invention, and hard constraints surface solutions you could not have found in easier times. Businesses that stay aggressive through a disruption come out ahead of the ones that wait it out.