Building Strength Where You Can’t Yet See It
When the deliveries stopped
I still remember the quiet click that followed the call. It was a strange, heavy silence that fills the room when you realise the one thing you didn’t think could fail just did. Our logistics partner had gone under overnight. The vans that were supposed to be on the road by dawn were sitting in a locked depot. The phones were already ringing with customers expecting deliveries that were unlikely to arrive on time, if at all. For a few minutes, I just stood there, replaying the conversations we’d had about efficiency, reliability, and growth. We’d built our systems carefully, but we’d built them around the assumption that the delivery network was solid.
It was a hard moment, but a defining one. What struck me wasn’t how vulnerable we’d been; it was how blind we’d been to dependency. We’d been building speed and volume, but we hadn’t stress-tested the foundations. That moment changed how I looked at risk forever.
Seeing weak points as gateways to strength
For most growing businesses, the pressure is always forward; the next client, the next milestone, the next step up. We rarely stop to map what would happen if something we rely on simply stopped working. The truth is, every company carries hidden weaknesses. Some are in processes, others in suppliers or technology, and many in people, those key individuals who hold knowledge no one else has written down.
Discovering those weaknesses early isn’t failure, it’s the start of maturity.
Because every time you find fragility, you also find a doorway to strength and an opportunity to build systems that are steadier, people who are better prepared, and a business that’s more confident under pressure.
Learning from space: What NASA discovered
Years later, I came across the story of NASA’s early systems for analysing failure; the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis and the Critical Items List. They were designed to expose weaknesses in every system before a Space Shuttle ever left the ground. NASA knew that even one overlooked component could end a mission. So, they built teams whose sole purpose was to ask the difficult “what if” questions and rehearse answers long before they were needed.
But the Challenger and Columbia disasters proved that data alone doesn’t keep a system safe. In both cases, engineers had raised concerns. What failed wasn’t knowledge, it was the culture around it. Warnings were softened, signals ignored, politics prioritised, and a quiet optimism crept in that “this time would be fine.” That lesson resonated deeply with me. It wasn’t about rockets, it was about truth. No organisation, whatever its size, is immune to optimism. The challenge isn’t identifying risk; it’s creating the space where people can speak about it freely and be heard.
The critical failure mindset
The idea of a Critical Failure Team grew from that understanding, not as a safety net, but as a way to build confidence through preparedness. Such a team isn’t there to find fault. Its role is to explore how the business really works under strain. They ask questions that reveal dependencies, map where one failure could trigger another, and test how recovery would unfold in practice. Over time, these conversations build calm. When you’ve tested your systems, imagined the scenarios, and strengthened what you found fragile, uncertainty begins to lose its power. People trust the structure because they’ve helped shape it. The shift from assumption to awareness, becomes one of the quiet advantages of strong leadership.
When the approach works
When a critical failure approach takes root, the business begins to think differently.
Conversations widen. Leaders start to see beyond departments, understanding how choices in one area ripple into another.
People talk more openly about what could go wrong, not as confession but as collaboration. Each review or stress test uncovers small issues before they grow. The team becomes more agile, not through speed but through foresight. And somewhere along the way, resilience stops being a separate function. It becomes the rhythm of the organisation and the way it breathes.
Why it sometimes falters
There are times it doesn’t land, and I’ve seen that too.
It falters when it becomes routine paperwork instead of a live conversation.
It loses traction when findings aren’t acted upon or when people stop believing leadership really wants to hear the truth. And it fades when independence is lost, and when the team is folded into daily operations and its questions start to sound too familiar.
What sustains it is culture. An atmosphere where curiosity is valued, honesty is safe, and improvement is continuous. Without that, even the most sophisticated process eventually runs out of oxygen.
Who belongs in the room
The most effective groups I’ve seen combine perspective and trust. Operational leaders who know how things actually happen. Finance voices who can translate vulnerability into numbers and opportunity. Technology experts who understand how systems connect and where they’re exposed. People and culture leads who sense where silence might be hiding fatigue or dependency. And occasionally, an independent chair, someone whose loyalty is to clarity rather than comfort.
I’ve always found it helps to bring in a voice from the frontline too. That’s often where the early signs appear, with the small shifts and bottlenecks that don’t yet look like problems but could easily become them.
What we did next
After the failure of our logistics supplier, I gathered a small group from across the business. We spent a week mapping every dependency, from suppliers, systems, and contracts, to people and knowledge retention. It was messy at first, sometimes uncomfortable, and sometimes felt a little pointless, but what we found was that every answer led to another, better question. We started to see patterns. A single point of contact in one supplier, outdated systems that only one person knew how to fix, and manual steps hidden inside “automated” processes. None of it was dramatic, but each held the potential to stop the business cold if it failed at the wrong moment.
Over the following months, we introduced a few simple changes:
- Dual sourcing for key materials and services.
- Cross-training so knowledge wasn’t trapped in one head or one laptop.
- Scenario reviews twice a year, walking through “what if” events as a team.
As our working practices evolved, people began noticing risks themselves and raising them early. Not out of fear, but because they knew we’d listen. It reminded me of something I’d once read about Toyota’s lean manufacturing system, where any production line worker has the authority to press the big red STOP button if they spot a problem. The moment they see something that doesn’t look right, a part out of alignment, a process drifting off standard, they can stop the entire line. It’s not a dramatic gesture; it’s a sign of strength. Because everyone understands that a small issue, left to run, can become a much larger one later. That system only works in a culture of trust, where stopping the line isn’t punished, but respected. It’s the same philosophy that underpins a healthy Critical Failure mindset.
In our own business, we found that once people knew they could speak up early, and that doing so would be met with curiosity not criticism, the business became stronger.
Confidence grew, not from perfection, but from the shared belief that we would deal with problems together, while they were still small enough to manage. About a year later, another challenge came. A major supplier was hit by a regional strike. This time, the phones didn’t ring in panic because we’d already rehearsed the scenario. Alternative suppliers were lined up, communication plans ready, priorities clear. We didn’t just survive it; we actually strengthened customer trust because we delivered without disruption. That’s when I realised that preparing for potential failure isn’t about fear or caution, it’s about building freedom because it allows a business to grow boldly, knowing its structure can hold.
Looking ahead
In every business I’ve worked with since, I’ve seen how powerful it can be to make resilience part of leadership rather than a side task for risk or compliance.
When a leadership team commits to finding its own weak points, it quietly transforms its relationship with risk. It replaces anxiety with readiness and replaces doubt with clarity.
The question evolves from “What could go wrong?” to “How can we ensure we’re ready for whatever comes next?”
That mindset builds confidence across the organisation, and that confidence becomes the foundation for sustained growth.
Mark Jarvis
6x Founder | Interim MD | NED | Coach & Mentor
Author of:
The Very Best Business Handbook You’ll Ever Own
The 63 Point Business Blueprint
Work with me:
I build companies worth owning by supporting owners, founders and leaders to create a scalable business that works without them, Book a call with me here to ask a question and get started.
Remember, there are only three types of people – those who make things happen, those who wait for things to happen, and those who talk about why things don’t happen for them. Which one are you?
Recent Comments