Don’t rebuild what was, create what will be

The business landscape has changed more in the last five years than in the previous twenty.

COVID forced us all into a new reality, and the economic turbulence that followed reshaped how both consumers and businesses think about priorities. Customer expectations have shifted dramatically and the concept of value has taken on new meaning. At the same time, businesses have had to rethink what they sell, how they produce it, who they partner with, and in some cases whether they even remain in the same markets. 

And then there’s technology. AI is no longer just a buzzword. It’s rewriting the rules of how work gets done. Add to that globalisation, ongoing supply chain challenges, and the fragmentation of industries as laid-off workers set up competing businesses from home, and the competitive environment has become harder to navigate than anything I’ve ever seen. There’s no sugar-coating it, it’s been bloody tough. 

The era of tough choices

Like many leaders, I’ve had to make choices in the last few years that I’d rather not make. Downsizing, cutting costs, stripping back to the essentials. These weren’t theoretical business decisions - they impacted real people, plans, and aspirations. They were necessary for survival but that doesn’t make it any easier. 

Those tough calls forced us to focus hard on what really matters. We found savings and efficiencies we didn’t know existed. We discovered faster, smarter ways of working. We built new habits out of necessity.

But there’s another side to that story: I genuinely believe that businesses – including our own – who get through this period will come out stronger, and better equipped. That’s the silver lining. All that pain will count for something if we choose to carry the lessons forward.

Beyond survival mode

For the last few years it’s been about survival, keeping the lights on, paying the bills, and finding a way through the here and now. Big-picture opportunities like innovation, AI or market expansion sat on the sidelines. We understood the threat and the opportunity but didn’t have the headspace, the people, or the capital to explore it. Surviving was all we could do.

Now, as market conditions look to improve, many leaders are starting to talk about adding back resources, equipment and infrastructure, aiming to rebuild what was lost. 

"But here’s the thing: that world no longer exists. The conditions we operated in before 2020 aren’t coming back. The challenge is not to recreate the past but to build for the future."

Scaling up without going backwards

Yes, we’ll hire people again. We have to. You can only push at the pace we’ve been working for so long before it becomes unsustainable. But rebuilding the full headcount we had before isn’t the goal.

Instead, the question I keep asking myself is: how do we scale up without losing the efficiencies we worked so hard to find in recent years? How do we take the lean, streamlined operating model we’ve built in tough times and make it work when volumes increase?

For example, we’ve learned to work with freelancers and contractors more confidently. That flexibility is now part of the DNA. Why give it up? It allows us to scale up or down with demand without committing to fixed overheads.

Or take automation. There are so many opportunities to use AI for the small, repetitive tasks that eat time: automating quotes, summarising meeting notes, building proposal templates, and more. They add up to real gains. Scaling in this new environment isn’t about going back to what we had; it’s about holding onto the hard-won lessons of efficiency while building capacity for growth.

Resilience as a philosophy

Another thing this period has reinforced for me is the value of resilience. If the last five years have taught us anything, it’s that downturns will come again. And probably more often than ever. Global shocks are inevitable. The question is whether we’re ready next time.

Resilience isn’t just about having cash reserves. It’s about diversifying revenue streams so we’re not overexposed in the market. It’s about investing in innovation so we’ve always got new options in the pipeline. It’s about developing our people so they can flex into different roles as circumstances change. It’s about thinking broadly about customer needs and opportunities and how the skills and resources we have can be leveraged in new ways.

And, importantly, it’s about culture. Resilient organisations are those who learn from both their successes and failures, who let information flow openly, and where adaptability is celebrated. You can’t put resilience on a balance sheet, but when the next shock comes, it can make the difference between bending and breaking.

Innovation isn’t a luxury

For a while, it was easy to push innovation down the road. It was a luxury that we felt we couldn’t afford in a financial crisis. To our credit we’ve tried to keep digital innovation going. The honest truth is we’ve done it half-heartedly and on the cheap. However, I’ve come to believe that innovation is what will keep us relevant and having retained the people, processes and structures gives us leverage to dial this up when we can. 

It’s about leveraging technology, rethinking processes, reimagining customer experiences, recalibrating culture, and being brave enough to do things differently. We proved we can pivot when we’re forced to. Now the challenge is to keep that mindset alive when the pressure isn’t as acute.

My playbook for what’s next 

So how do we take these lessons forward? For me, it comes down to five core principles:

1. Keep the efficiencies we fought for. Every time we think about adding cost back in, ask: is there a smarter way?

2. Build resilience into the model. Diversify revenue, strengthen supply partnerships, and build flexibility into the workforce.

3. Use technology as a lever. Capture the gains that AI and automation make possible. Start small, and build.

4. Invest in people and culture. Efficiency without engagement burns people out. A resilient culture is just as important as resilient systems.

5. Think future, not past. Don’t aim to rebuild what was. Aim to create what will be.

Stronger for the strain

The choices have been tough. The strain has been real and personal. But I genuinely believe the businesses that lean into these lessons will emerge stronger from it. The temptation as the market lifts will be to go back to old habits. To add headcount, to inflate budgets, to chase growth the same way we did before. But that shouldn’t be the path forward. The smarter move is to scale up using what we’ve learned, to make resilience a core philosophy, and to keep innovating.

That’s my take, anyway. The future belongs to the businesses that don’t just survive disruption but use it to become stronger, smarter, and better prepared for whatever comes next.