How to Lead When the Conditions for Success Suddenly Disappear

Harvard Business Review (Oct 13, 2025) by Jenny Fernandez and Kathryn Landis describes how economic headwinds, volatile markets, mid-course budget cuts and generative AI reshaping jobs and workflows have left organisations stretched thin with fewer resources and tighter timelines. The leaders who endure, they argue, are not those who cling to the original design but those who broaden their coalitions, build resiliency into their systems, and reset expectations as realities shift. For SEA mid-market boards whose strategy assumptions are being invalidated quarterly by trade and policy shocks, this is a practical reframing of resilience as coalition-building rather than plan-defending.