Now in our fifth year of the AlixPartners Disruption Index, we have seen how some disruptions strike and then fade as challenges for business leaders. This year, for example, the data clearly shows that the extreme volatility and dislocations of the pandemic-related disruptions are behind us. At the same time, other profound disruptive forces—from AI to climate change to geopolitical conflict—are just gathering steam.

One theme that has been consistent over the past five years, however, is the crucial role that leaders play in navigating their organizations through this disruptive landscape. In this rapidly shifting environment, having a strong brand, cutting-edge technology, or well-established customer relationships alone is not sufficient. The decisions we make as business leaders truly matter.

When we look at the best performing companies—those that are growing both their top and bottom lines faster than the rest of their industry (about 8% of our sample)—the single biggest differentiator is their action orientation. They prioritize pace over perfection. Asked which leadership skills are most important to respond to disruption, the leaders of these companies are much more likely to identify execution and follow-through.

The rest of the pack emphasizes resilience, which is important, of course. You need to be able to absorb a shock. But you need to be able to go on the offense, too—to throw a punch as well as take a punch.

Those leaders who exhibit skills of focus and pace have what I term a "turnaround mindset," which is something I have observed over more than 30 years advising troubled companies (and discussed in another recent article[JC1] ). In a rapidly-shifting and disrupted world, many of the things necessary to rescue a distressed business are just as applicable to turning "good" performance into "great" performance. As it turns out, many of the same lessons apply.

Leaders with a turnaround mindset demonstrate three broad categories of behaviors:

  1. They prioritize, through evidence-based decision making. As Fred Smith of FedEx once said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
  2. They execute. Earlier this year, I spoke with Delta Airlines' CEO Ed Bastian, who said: "Decision-making is a learned skill. One thing you learn is to move quickly. You don't sit and belabor a decision."
  3. They communicate. I was struck recently by how Lyft CEO David Risher got out in front of a typo in their press release, which could have spun badly for the company. Instead, he gave on-the-record interviews to any journalist that would listen, and as a result, the coverage focused on the company's strong performance and future growth, not the error.

The fact that the dislocations of the pandemic are behind us and economic conditions are strong may lead many business leaders to assume a false sense that the pace of disruption has slowed. Nothing could be further from the truth, as we see the interconnected forces of disruption accelerating.

Disruption is the new economic driver, and those who move at speed to position themselves for the opportunities it presents will be the winners tomorrow.

P.S., I have just finished a series of short posts on the specific leadership challenges that CEOs are facing in this disruptive age, entitled "Leadership on a tightrope." If you have not seen it yet, please give it a read and let me know what you think. You can find the articles below.

Simon's 'Leadership on a tightrope' series:

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