Moving from surviving to thriving during business upheaval

Executive overview

Crisis exposes what works and what doesn't — fast. Companies that come out ahead are those that cut ruthlessly, read the trends early, and move before competitors do.

The panel — four business growth coaches from the US, UK, and Latin America — share what they saw playing out in real time during the COVID-19 shutdown: which companies were growing 10x to 100x, which needed to shutter, and what the playbook looked like for each.

The core insight: in a crisis, speed of decision-making matters more than quality of decision — brutal facts acted on fast beat careful analysis acted on too late.

The three types of companies in a crisis

• A small number of companies find their moment — demand surges for what they already do (PPE screens, food delivery, online learning).
• The majority face massive disruption and must decide: pivot or shutter.
• Some should close temporarily — not every business has a viable pivot, and pretending otherwise wastes capital and time.
• "Can we pivot?" is the wrong first question. The right question is "Should we?" — the distinction matters.
• Zombie companies — those kept open on paper but unviable — are a known risk coming out of China's SARS experience.

What the data from China told us

• China was several weeks ahead of the West; the phases visible there were a preview: lockdown → partial reopening → reduced-capacity normal.
• Restaurants reopening at 30% capacity is not a return to normal — it's a new constrained baseline.
• SARS birthed JD.com (now China's #2 e-commerce platform) — crisis creates durable new categories.
• The Iraq War made CNN; COVID is a similar inflection point for multiple industries at once.

Patterns from past downturns: what actually worked

Bill's 2001 playbook:

• Built two lists: what works / what doesn't, what's easy / what's hard.
• Ditched everything in the hard-and-not-working column — no exceptions.
• Stopped holding on to things from hope rather than evidence.
• Result: doubled revenue, then doubled again over the following two years.

Bill's 2008–09 playbook:

• Used strengths, weaknesses, and trends analysis.
• Identified new products at new price points for new purchase occasions.
• Applied "jobs to be done" thinking without naming it as such.
• Fast-tracked new products into new market segments.

Cutting costs: the first move in an extraordinary downturn

• Recessions pick off unhealthy businesses; depressions pick off even fundamentally sound ones.
• Assets — licenses, technology, companies — can become liabilities when asset prices collapse.
• The right instinct is ruthless cost reduction before pivoting to growth.
• Andy's rule: you will thank yourself in three months for every cost you cut now.
• CEOs consistently hold on too long — waiting until forced is the common and costly mistake.

Pivot vs. going greenfield

• A pivot reconfigures what you already know — a different direction from the same roots.
• Jumping to a completely unfamiliar domain almost always costs far more than expected.
• "Grow where you're planted" still applies — just grow in a different direction.
• The instinct to go greenfield is strongest when home turf feels threatened — that's when it's most dangerous.

Trends: the permanent competitive lever

• Change identifiers and change adapters don't just do well — they do great.
• Reading trends early is not a crisis skill; it's the perennial differentiator.
• SWOT → SWEAT: add T for trends alongside threats.
• Behaviors shift faster in a crisis — watch what people now need, which channels they use, how they activate.
• Contra-cyclical industries (education, produce, health) should be on every leader's radar.

Shorter planning cycles and virtual operations

• Pre-crisis: quarterly planning sessions, in-person, locked in far ahead.
• During crisis: monthly actions against quarterly targets, with monthly re-planning sessions.
• Daily and weekly huddles replace monthly check-ins; a day now equals what a week was.
• Virtual delivery reduces the facilitator's authority-by-presence — teams do more of the work themselves, which is better for retention and ownership.
• Coaching that previously required travel is as effective or more effective done remotely — and much cheaper.

Cash flow and workforce decisions

• In Latin America: legal severance requirements of 3–6 months create a different calculus — some companies are formally laying off staff with full severance to buy time while retaining alignment.
• Key tactic: give employees structured learning content to keep them focused and reduce panic-driven news consumption.
• Sales teams should shift immediately to short-cycle, in-stock products over long-cycle custom projects.
• Protect liquidity above all else during the acute phase.

The role of online learning in alignment

• Growth Institute traffic up 40% month-on-month; clients binge-watching courses they had no time for before.
• Practical learning (negotiation, scaling frameworks) is displacing credential-focused education.
• Teams given video content plus live coaching sessions report higher engagement and faster re-alignment than teams left to manage uncertainty alone.
• Education is contra-cyclical: demand rises precisely when business slows.

Pivots that worked in real time

• Strip club → "Boober Eats": kitchen still open, staff redeployed to deliver food, bouncers drive. Rapid, creative, already generating national press.
• LVMH perfumeries → hand sanitiser production.
• Tito's Vodka: publicly corrected misinformation about DIY sanitisers, then made their own — brand trust move.
• Central Irrigation: salespeople sent clients gift cards to local open businesses, then held virtual lunches — customer retention through relationship, not product.
• Medical screen inventor whose 10-year-old hospital privacy product hit its moment: scaling up fast with coaching support.

What the coaches are changing in their own practice

• All kickoffs, planning days, and workshops moved online — clients who previously refused virtual sessions now have no choice and are finding it equally effective.
• Coaches can now bring in additional team members mid-session without logistics overhead.
• Scaling Up Scoreboard (free daily huddle access offered during crisis) helps remote teams maintain shared visibility on plans and priorities.
• Bill's East Bay Feed ER example: community organising + restaurant survival + purpose for people wanting to contribute — $90k raised in days.

The fundamentals that never stop working

• Focus on what works; ditch what doesn't — in a crisis this becomes non-negotiable.
• Control what you can control; let go of what you can't.
• Speed matters more than perfection — decisions get harder, not easier, with time.
• Continuous learning (CBE — continuous business education) is not a crisis response; it's the permanent operating model of the best-run companies.
• Common sense is not common — state the obvious, act on it early.