Turn geopolitical turmoil into transformational capacity

Leading corporate transformations has become harder than ever. The unpredictability of the direction and the speed of change, particularly regarding international trade tensions and tariffs, has created additional planning uncertainty for businesses. Business investment choices like production diversification or relocation follow very different timelines and rationales than political decisions. For many organizations, this magnifies lingering anxiety, fuelled by negativity bias, while the long-term ripples of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine continue to take their toll.

But, as best-selling management author Jim Collins says, whether you prevail or fail does not depend on what the world does to you; it depends on what you do to yourself. So, what can leaders do? How do they prevent organizational temperatures from rising too high, conflicts from worsening along divisional fault lines, and colleagues from retreating into survival mode?

A typical reflex in periods…