Global Banking & Finance: Are you a fighter or a freezer?

The “4 Fs” of surviving danger.

Just like human brains mobilize and fight an enemy using the fight, flight or freeze response, organizations do the same. When they encounter dangerous situations, like trying to survive a global pandemic, they can respond by either fighting the situation, fleeing from the situation, or freezing and waiting for the situation to pass.

I would like to propose a fourth strategy for organizations to deal with a danger like the pandemic: It is the fourth “F,” the farm response where organizations pivot and get creative.

“The farmers were ready. They used their resources and were not afraid to optimize them in a rapidly changing and volatile environment,” as I wrote in a guest post for Global Banking & Finance Review. “Farmers live with constantly changing weather conditions and market prices and are accustomed to rapid change.”