Study the journey of the businesses that have been close to Bankruptcy, close to extinction, and you see some strong common features.Firstly, the journey back to health only starts when they simplify. As often as not the issue is that the business has become over complicated. Too many similar products, too many acquisitions of similar companies not yet fully merged. Panic about a disruptive competitor creating uncertainty. Confusing pricing structures, purchasing hoops, over active marketing. These complications need to get swept away in order for the business to survive.
Secondly they create a strong well motivated team with a charismatic leader. That leader needs to set a clear vision, an achievable vision (it can be hard, but it must be seen as do-able) that has the total commitment of the leader, and everyone can support. Suppliers who carry a burden of the debt must also see that supporting the vision is a better option that seeking immediate payment.
Finally, they truly have clarity of the ground on which you stand, the current position, and how it is driving decision making. That clarity is as important as the clarity of vision. Without it setting strategy, finding the route to the goal is just guesswork, and likely to fail.
Of course there are more factors, competence, skills, knowledge and more, they matter, but not as much.
Do we need to wait for a near failure to do these things?, or should we do it as a natural part of business?. If we do them before we need to then we’ll not be recovering, we’ll be racing ahead. We will be the disruptive competitor that others fear. We’ll be strong when markets turn down and be stronger when economies weaken. Let’s get on with it.