A case for bold actions in troubled times came from an unexpected industry – aviation, but the insight can be shared by companies any size.
Warren Buffet is legendary both by his success and his wisdom. But in these troubled times, his bold advice to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful” is applicable?
With so many businesses struggling to survive and so many uncertainties ahead, this seems the worst time ever to try any venture of any kind. Play defence and wait for the rain to stop seems to be the most cautious approach for business owners. But should this be the case?
Southwest Airlines seem to think differently – in order to fight the deep crisis in the industry, they decided to play offence and fight back – they announced recently that they are expanding to nine new routes ,just after they’ve announced the biggest quarterly loss ever (1.2K million USD). Southwest CEO is aiming to come out of the pandemic gaining market share from competitors. The interesting thing is that these nine new openings were in the medium/long term plans for the company, but they decided to reshape their strategy given the market conditions.
Dire times require bold vision and execution. If you are not struggling to survive, maybe this is now the time to cater for opportunities and play offensive. This can be by expanding to new markets, new products or simply start doing things differently.
Some Business leaders struggle to understand that taking no decision is a decision by itself. Transformation does not mean necessarily radical change in technology or processes; may simple mean take a step forward and think differently.
Can you?