It is impossible to avoid a crisis in its entirety; certain situations that influence it can be avoided, but not all are the same. No matter how much knowledge and experience you have, there will be unforeseen events that can only be resolved with a deep analysis, sufficient caution, common sense and teamwork. The best thing is to prevent the crisis, just as vaccines protect against diseases, in the event of a crisis it is best to be well informed and have knowledge of the vulnerabilities that the company/family faces in the face of the economic, social and political situation of the system. Some prevention mechanisms can be: savings, insurance and contingency funds. Prepare with a crisis management plan, eg facing an emergency.

This happened when the pandemic hit in 2021. Our business was located in one of the few states that locked down and no appraisers were allowed to go into properties, so we had to pivot quickly. Here is what we did: - We met with the entire team immediately and told them what we did know, what the options were that we were considering and got their input - We shifted everyone's activity to focus on getting the one type of business we could bring in, during the pandemic - We froze bonuses and any extra spending until we understood the impact and what we would be working with. These things allowed us to keep all of our staff and hold out for the 6 months until things stabalized.

The most sudden market downturn I experienced with during lockdown/covid. The priority was to keep the lights on. We then explored pivoting and developing services to new and existing customer segments. In different businesses, during times of less 'sudden' downturns (where we could see changing trends, the impact of new technology, legislation and political drivers), it was a case of re-evaluating the market in terms of understanding new and changing needs from new and existing segments, and exploring new product and service development. Bringing in seasoned professionals with expertise in different functional business areas (finance, marketing, sales, operations, HR etc) sometimes presented new ideas that we hadn't spotted ourselves.

You bow down, weather the storm and say your prayers. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.....Plan "B" should already be in place to be activated..