What if Volatility and Uncertainty are Here to Stay? Learn What Strategic Leaders Are Doing Right Now

What if this isn’t a rough patch? What if volatility is just how it is now? The boldest leaders I work with aren’t hunkering down, they’re reallocating, reinforcing, and rethinking how they lead. Because waiting this out is not a strategy.

What You'll Get in This Post:

• Stats that show an alarming trend

• Decision-making frameworks for uncertain times

• Careful cuts that won’t spook your team or your clients

• Bold, proactive strategies you can actually use

First, take a quick trip down memory lane with me:

2022: Early Warning Signs Emerge. By mid-2022, the yield curve inverted—a classic recession indicator—signaling that investors were worried about the economy's future.

2023: Banking Turmoil Amplifies Fears. In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank's failure marked the largest bank collapse since 2008, shaking investor confidence and raising fears of a broader financial crisis. 

2024: Global Market Volatility. In August 2024, fears of a U.S. recession prompted a global market sell-off, with significant declines in major stock indices worldwide. 

2025: Uncertainty Persists Amid Mixed Signals. Financial leaders like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon caution that a U.S. recession remains possible due to ongoing market instability and policy uncertainties. In fact, he has said that a recession might be a "best case" scenario.

That's about 4 straight years of recession fears. So I'm here to pose the tough question: "what if market uncertainty is here to stay"? What if this is the new norm?

That's why when I hear people who say they're going to ride this out before making investments into their business, I get nervous. If this is a storm that won't pass in a couple of quarters, how far ahead will the bold leaders be? Can those cautious folks catch up?

I invited a friend and frequent collaborator, Dave Lee, to Revenue Remix. He has a surprising pathway to his current career as a CMO, which makes him uniquely qualified to hand out nuggets of wisdom right now. If you didn't catch the episode, find it here.

Leading and Innovating Through Uncertainty

Let’s be real: the market isn’t sending clear signals. We no longer have the comfort of carefully planning a strategy and budget for the year, and then more or less, following that plan. How can we predict what the reality will be a year from now when we often wake up to daily surprises in the news cycle? Riding it out and hoping for the best isn’t a strategy. But tightening too hard can backfire too. The best leaders I work with are adjusting, but they’re definitely not shrinking. Let's talk about it:

1. Communicate With Thoughtful Transparency

I advocate for thoughtful transparency. You have to call out the elephant in the room if things aren't going well. A lack of transparency will have your workers think you're hiding something, and you lose their trust, which is difficult to reestablish once lost.

And here's the thoughtful part - there are some hard truths or stats that shouldn't be shared outside the senior leadership team. Too much transparency, and you scare the front-line folks.

You need to strike a very delicate balance.

Before you do, ask yourself how the listener will process what you're telling them. Will they think, "I'm hiding something" — should I share more? Do they have the training and experience to contextualize all this information, or should I dial it back?

and don't look back.

4. Budget Reallocation and Thoughtful Cost Cuts

Instead of taking a chainsaw to your budget, take the scalpel approach. I'll use marketing because a lot of people look at the marketing budget for cuts. In the podcast episode, I talk about why it's not a good idea to pause marketing. Here's a bit of research: When campaigns are restarted, platforms like Google may treat them as new, leading to a 'learning phase' with suboptimal performance. Rebuilding the previous momentum can take weeks, resulting in lost opportunities and revenue.

But also, what does that look like to your staff? That's a big signal that things aren't going well, and it can spook people.

"We performed an audit and trimmed wasteful spending." is much better optics than "we are pausing marketing until the economy improves." If that sounds like you, I've got a free tool to help you make those surgical cuts. I even included some bold and innovative takes, if that's your thing. Grab it here.

5. Watch KPIs and Catch Problems Early

I recommend that people review KPIs bi-weekly. For a strategic reason. If your stats are down for two consecutive months, that's almost a full quarter and it's going to be harder to pull out of a downward shift.

In addition to reviewing stats, also review clients and sales calls and listen for words and tone that are early indicators of shifts in attitude - the things that come before declining metrics.

7. Communicate and Coach

I saved this for last for a reason - this is the most important. People need to hear from you and they're going to require more comfort than normal. Let them know the little changes you're making. And even more important, let them know the areas that are rock solid, steadfast.

During uncertain times, people are... uncertain. And when people feel painted into a corner, they can lash out.

Your front line folks are dealing with increasingly anxious clients. Your sales folks are trying to engage increasingly cautious prospects.

This is asynchronous communication, so I won't lay out a bunch of coaching tactics. What I will tell you is that this is one of my superpowers. When you notice some tone shifts that predict a problem is brewing, we need to talk.

Bold Moves

Are you in a good position? Now is your time to be bold and out-maneuver your competitors. It's time to go on offense.

1. Turn Stalled Deals into Strategic Wins

Assign sales + marketing teams to co-create mid-funnel content targeted at stalled whale accounts.

Why It Works: I've done this with clients. It's using content not just as a traffic driver but as a sales acceleration tool. It’s tailored, high-leverage, and can reignite a deal that would otherwise die on the vine.

3. Replace Lead Goals with Conversion Confidence

Bold Move: Shift the KPI focus from “more leads” to “higher quality conversations” by aligning messaging to objections and buyer pain.

Why It Works: I regularly coach teams to look beyond top-of-funnel vanity and focus instead on real buyer questions and intent indicators.

4. Train Sales Teams to Build Strategic Trust, Not Just Pitch

Bold Move: Double down on empathetic coaching so sellers know how to lead thoughtful, pressure-free conversations with hesitant buyers.

Why It Works: The people I coach do this well, especially during uncertain markets when people buy slower and expect more value per conversation.

What’s Next

This is not the moment to freeze. If you’re a founder or revenue leader navigating uncertainty, start by reviewing the actions above. Pick one or two. Bring it to your next leadership meeting.

And if you’re ready to get proactive about churn, stalled growth, or misaligned teams—let’s talk. This is the kind of work I help clients with every day. It’s always a good time to build a stronger revenue engine.

You can also:

• Subscribe to Revenue Remix wherever you listen to podcasts

• Forward this to a peer who’s wrestling with the same questions

• Reach out on LinkedIn if this hit a nerve—I’d love to hear what resonated

  
  

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Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $2MM - $20MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.