Overcoming the preparedness paradox: five initiatives to ready businesses for an uncertain future disruption

Abstract

Purpose The crippling lack of attention to potentially apocalyptic alerts also afflicts specific warnings about more common serious threats to the supply chain when there can be no certainty about their occurrence. Instead of mobilizing an organization to prepare for threats, inaction often prevails when leaders filter warning signals through eyes clouded by cataracts of self-deception, myopia and inertia. 10; Design/Methodology/Approach The corrective to the preparedness paradox: five attention-getting actions that prompt low-cost readiness for potential disruptions. Findings The route to preparedness starts when the leadership team is collectively curious about anomalies in the business market, emerging technology or social environment. Practical/Implications Pursuing the significance of an anomaly requires the exercise of curiosity. Originality/Value The authors offer time-tested ways to improve an organization's attention to potential threats and new opportunities. Their recommended approaches include: learning from good and bad past experience, staying alert to anomalies, narrating credible stories about the future and creating engaging experiences through simulations.