Most companies learn resilience the hard way. Jeffrey Kallister — owner and chief operator of S&K Buick GMC in Springfield, Illinois — thinks that’s a mistake. Kallister has been one of the louder voices pushing business leaders to treat resilience not as a crisis response, but as a core operating principle. And given what’s hitting American businesses right now, his timing couldn’t be better.
Inflation. Geopolitical friction. Gloomy global forecasts. The list of volatility drivers keeps growing, and organizations without resilience built into their DNA are the ones feeling it most.
Here’s the thing: resilience isn’t just about bouncing back. That’s the reactive version — useful, sure, but incomplete. The real edge goes to organizations that see problems coming and have systems ready before things go sideways. Growth brings its own complications too; scaling up means new risks, and smart expansion strategies account for that before a manageable issue becomes a full-blown crisis.
The payoff? It’s well-documented. During the 2007–2008 financial crisis, resilient companies didn’t just survive the downturn — they outperformed competitors during both the collapse and the recovery, then adapted faster to whatever “normal” looked like afterward.
COVID sharpened this thinking considerably.
A Federation of European Risk Management Associations survey — pulling from over 200 senior executives and risk insurance leaders worldwide — found that the vast majority of leaders now treat resilience and risk management as more critical than ever. Before the pandemic, “risk” meant financial exposure. Maybe a few niche concerns. Jeffrey P. Kallister and operators like him have since pushed a broader view: environmental threats, public health shocks, societal tensions — all of it belongs on the risk radar now.
The survey data backs this up. Nearly 80% of respondents built out workplace safety standards and remote work policies during the pandemic. About two-thirds said resilience has moved to the center of their company’s strategic thinking.
Where are leaders focusing? Digital, technological, and operational resilience are all getting serious attention — though financial resilience hasn’t lost its place at the table.
Proactive planning shows up everywhere in these strategies. Scenario planning. Stress testing. Risk-forecasting exercises woven into major decisions rather than bolted on as an afterthought. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s the kind that pays off when something unexpected hits.
The culture piece matters just as much. Three-quarters of risk managers say improved risk culture is essential to making resilient strategies actually stick — not just as policy documents, but as lived practice. Pair that with well-developed risk-governance models, and an organization’s crisis-management capability improves significantly.
The question isn’t whether disruption is coming. It is.
The question Jeffrey P. Kallister keeps asking — and that more business leaders should — is whether their organization will be ready when it does.
