Business Longevity Is No Accident
“He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.” — The Art of War
In early 2023, a $60 million industrial firm lost 40 percent of its revenue in under eight weeks. The cause? A single vendor, long considered reliable, abruptly shut down operations. The fallout was swift. With no alternate supplier and mounting client dissatisfaction, the company had no choice but to furlough dozens of employees and reevaluate its operating model.
This was not a failing business. It was a company caught off guard.
Although roughly 80 percent of new U.S. businesses survive their first year, fewer than 34 percent reach the ten-year mark. For leaders of middle-market firms, staying in business is not about stability. It is about anticipating the unexpected and responding decisively.
This guide is designed to help you do just that. You will learn how to identify the risks that matter and how to build a custom playbook to manage them. Inspired by the enduring insights of Sun Tzu, this post will walk you through the practical steps necessary to prepare your business for what you cannot see coming.
The High Cost of Blind Spots
Most companies don’t fall apart from a single blow. They unravel because of what they didn’t see coming.
Common Blind Spots:
- Dependence on a single supplier or client
- Aging IT infrastructure with no contingency
- Key employees exploring competitive options
- Legal or regulatory exposure not yet identified
These risks don’t always show up in dashboards. But they surface in moments of stress and when they do, there’s often no time to think clearly.
Take Action: Conduct a “blind spot review” with your leadership team. Ask: What assumptions are we making that might no longer be true? Document findings, assign ownership, and revisit them quarterly.
Know Yourself: Internal Threats
Internal risks are often underestimated because they appear manageable—until they’re not. But many business failures start within.
Internal Threat Examples:
- Lack of a clear succession plan
- Overreliance on one or two individuals
- Unexamined operational dependencies
- Weak cybersecurity posture or outdated protocols
- Unaddressed employee dissatisfaction or turnover trends
What makes these risks dangerous is not just their existence, but how easily they’re ignored.
Take Action: Schedule a leadership session focused only on internal risks. Identify your top five threats. Draft immediate next steps for each. Assign responsibilities, draft responses, and begin building process redundancy where gaps exist. This does not require perfection. It requires motion.
Know Your Environment: External Threats
External risks are harder to predict, but no less critical. Your industry could be reshaped overnight by regulation, economic change, or competitive innovation.
External Threat Examples:
- A critical supplier goes out of business or raises prices
- Inflation and interest rate hikes hit margins unexpectedly
- Regulatory changes increase compliance burdens
- Competitors outpace you through automation or acquisitions
- AI, new market entrants, or pricing wars change the playing field
You cannot predict every threat, but you can pressure-test your assumptions. The goal is not omniscience. It is preparedness.
Take Action: Create an “external risk map” across categories like suppliers, clients, policy, and competitors. Revisit it at least once per quarter.
Build a Culture of Readiness
Readiness is not a binder on a shelf. It is a living mindset that must be practiced regularly.
Best Practices for Embedding Readiness:
Best Practices for Embedding Readiness:- Conduct simulation exercises for events like client loss, supply disruption, or cybersecurity failure
- Assign clear ownership for every major risk
- Encourage teams to report concerns early, without fear of penalty
- Involve third-party advisors to validate plans and expose blind spots you might miss internally
Leadership must model this behavior. When risk planning is treated as a strategic imperative, others will follow.
Take Action: Launch an annual “resilience drill” where senior leaders simulate a real-world crisis. Evaluate decisions, communication, and clarity under pressure.
Your Next Move: Write Your Playbook Before You Need It
The goal is not to eliminate all risk. That is impossible. The goal is to ensure your business can adapt quickly when the unexpected happens.
To do that, you need a playbook that is:
- Specific to your business model
- Built around your internal and external risks
- Reviewed and refined regularly
- Owned by leadership, not forgotten or buried
Start building your company’s defense today.
Connect with LGA’s Business Advisory Services team for a custom Threat Readiness Audit. We will help you uncover critical vulnerabilities, design practical response strategies, and build lasting resilience so your business is not just reacting to threats, but anticipating them and playing offense.
