Responding to Setbacks & Growing Through Disruptions
Profiles in Preparedness #58
Welcome back to The CP Journal, where we break down what it takes to get left of bang.
There is a chart that we use when speaking with organizations about the benefit of being left of bang.
We use it because it shows that when disasters, disruptions, acts of violence, or crises occur, there are generally three outcomes. There are organizations that fail quickly. There are organizations that manage to survive, but struggle for a long time and never really get ahead. And there are organizations that adapt, learn, and ultimately grow as a result of the event.
It’s a slide that tends to elicit an immediate reaction—especially from leaders, executives, and driven professionals. Almost without exception, they see the chart and say they want to be on the growth line. They expect to be able to grow from disruptive events.
That reaction is exactly why we use it. The chart helps set a shared vision of where leaders want their organization to end up, so the conversation can shift to what actually influences whether that outcome is possible.
Those outcomes aren’t determined by luck alone. They are influenced—often significantly—by the capabilities an organization has developed before the disruptive event occurs.
Much of our work focuses on capabilities that are relatively tangible and easy to scope. Developing monitoring and watch capabilities to reduce organizational surprise. Supporting planning and capability development efforts that allow teams to act quickly once decisions are made. Building project management structures that bring strategy into day-to-day decision-making.
Those capabilities are critical because they shape how an organization detects change, makes decisions, and executes under pressure. But there is another capability that I consistently see present in people and organizations that successfully shift left of bang—and it is often less explicit, less discussed, and harder to name.
It’s how leaders respond to setbacks.
When a setback occurs, people tend to respond in ways that closely mirror the three lines on the chart.
Some people disengage quickly. Things didn’t go according to plan, so they conclude the plan wasn’t meant to succeed. They accept the outcome and move on.
Others respond with panic-driven overdrive. They do a lot of work, stay busy, and expend energy—but without regaining clarity or getting ahead of the problem.
And then there is a third group. Their reflex is to understand what happened, to reduce the chance of it happening again, and to improve. They treat the setback as a signal and a spotlight, not a verdict.
Major incidents have a way of amplifying these differences. Think back to February and March of 2020. COVID didn’t affect a handful of businesses—it touched nearly every organization in the world. Some collapsed. Some managed to survive. Some grew.
When a hurricane moves up the eastern seaboard, it doesn’t choose which communities to impact. Everyone takes the hit.
That’s what the chart is meant to show. The disruption affects everyone. Even organizations that ultimately grow often experience an initial dip. One of the differences between those that grew and those that failed wasn’t the absence of setbacks—it was how leaders responded when those setbacks occurred.
But this capability isn’t built only in moments of crisis. It’s developed—or neglected—every day, through small, seemingly inconsequential setbacks that are easy to brush off. A stakeholder who doesn’t buy into a project. A meeting that gets derailed. A deal that goes to a competitor. A key employee who leaves for another opportunity.
For a long time, I thought of this in terms of grit, determination, commitment, or traits that people either had or didn’t have. But those ideas focus on effort and are often disconnected from outcomes.
Today, I see response to setbacks as a decision. A decision about what a leader is willing to accept as “good enough” after something doesn’t go as planned. And that decision can only be made if the leader is aware enough to recognize that a setback has occurred—and that a response is required.
To be effective, that awareness needs to be tied directly to goals. A setback occurs when something happens that moves the organization or the team farther away from a goal it was actively trying to achieve. Leaders who consistently grow from disruption tend to recognize these moments quickly while those that struggle often miss it.
The leaders who struggle might stay busy, remain committed to the original plan, or accept diminished outcomes without explicitly acknowledging that the goal itself is slipping further out of reach. I don’t see this as a difference in motivation, but in whether leaders recognize the gap and deliberately adjust their approach once they see it.
If you’re trying to get yourself or your organization left of bang, developing the ability to respond productively to setbacks deserves deliberate attention. It’s less tangible than many others, but it is absolutely observable.
Projects are one of the few environments where these moments—when goals slip and responses matter—are unavoidable and visible. If you’re an executive or a team leader, we added a new article to the site this week that builds on this theme. It’s titled “Projects Are the Proving Ground,” and it’s available to paying subscribers.
Projects are where teams operate in environments that mirror high-consequence events: uncertainty, competing priorities, time pressure, and consequences. They also surface setbacks—inevitable points where plans collide with reality.
Because of that, projects provide a powerful medium for observing how people respond when things don’t go as expected. They create concrete moments for mentorship and development, grounding abstract leadership concepts in real decisions, real behavior, and real outcomes.
Before You Go
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A simple, elegant, yet powerful framework, Patrick. Great piece.