Uncertainty is no longer just something to get through. Now, you can use it to your advantage.

Many CEOs view economic volatility as a threat. They worry about higher interest rates, unpredictable demand, slower sales cycles, tighter cash flow, and the pressure to do more with less.

Over the next two to three years, the most successful B2B companies will be led by people who see volatility as an advantage, not just a problem.

Volatility is more than turbulence. It changes the competitive landscape, giving bold companies a chance to act quickly while others hold back.

You can turn this uncertainty into an opportunity.

Why Volatility Creates an Opportunity for CEOs

Volatility affects your business in three main ways:

1. It exposes weaknesses in your company and your competitors. Inefficient processes, weak offerings, outdated models, and poor customer experience all become obvious under stress.
2. It changes customer behavior. Customers become more risk-averse, more value-driven, and more willing to switch providers if a better value appears.
3. It slows competitors down. Many CEOs freeze, cut investments, delay decisions, and lose confidence. This creates space for companies that act quickly to win a bigger share of the market.

Volatility reveals which companies are leaders and which are lagging.

First: Build a Volatility-Ready Strategy

To benefit from volatility, a CEO must first understand it. This requires clear thinking and strategy. Ask yourself questions like these on a regular basis:

A Revenue Resilience Diagnostics.  

• What revenue disappears if demand drops 10–20%?
• Which customers are vulnerable?
• Which offerings remain essential?

A Cost Flexibility Review

• How quickly can we move from fixed costs to variable costs?
• Where can we simplify our operations without losing value?
• If customers had to cut budgets today, would they keep us?
• Why? Why not?

A Competitor Stress Analysis

• What will competitors do under pressure?
• Where can we advance while they retreat?

This process helps CEOs clearly see their weaknesses, risks, and opportunities. It prepares them to take decisive, strategic action.

Preparation alone is not enough. Creativity is what turns preparation into a real advantage.

Creativity: The CEO’s Secret Weapon in Volatile Markets

Volatility requires creativity and fresh ideas to find new ways to grow. Both vertical and lateral thinking are essential now.

Creativity is more than catchy slogans or brainstorming. It means finding new strategies that your competitors have not considered.

Here are three powerful creative levers a CEO can use:

1. Create Volatility-Specific Offerings

During uncertain times, customers value:

• Predictability
• Reduced risk
• Faster ROI
• Greater reliability
• Lower operational friction. 

Creative CEOs change their products and services to meet these needs. For example:

• Performance guarantees
• 90-day value delivery commitments
• Fixed-fee or inflation-protected contracts
• Proactive monitoring services
• Outcome-based pricing
• Bundled service + software + support packages

When customers are worried, they change how they buy. If your product or service helps them feel more secure, you can earn their loyalty and grow your market share.

2. Convert Internal Strengths Into a Value Monopoly

Most companies have hidden strengths they have never used to make money:

• Reliability
• Speed
• Technical expertise
• Service quality
• Industry knowledge
• Partnership networks

Lateral thinking helps you use these strengths to stand out. For example:

• “Zero-downtime guarantee”
• “Rapid deployment model”
• “Optimization audit service.”
• “Continuous improvement partnership. “Predictive performance dashboard elements help you build a strong, unique position in the market. They make you stand out and earn loyalty, especially in uncertain times.     

 

 3 Move While Competitors Freeze. 

The quickest way to gain an advantage is to act while others wait.

Volatility leads many companies to:

• Delay decisions
• Cut back on service
• Slow innovation
• Retreat from customer engagement
• Postpone strategic projects

This is the time for bold CEOs to:

• Launch new offerings
• Deepen customer relationships
• Expand advisory or strategic roles.
• Improve customer experience
• Gain wallet share
• Invest in innovation that your competitors cannot match.

Companies that change their strategies during uncertain times gain long-term advantages. Their willingness to act sets them apart from those who wait.

​How Volatility Creates Long-Term Competitive Advantage

Volatility gives CEOs a chance to build advantages that last long after things become stable again. Companies that innovate during these times can build:

• Differentiation: Unique offerings, service layers, and solutions competitors can’t replicate.
• Pricing Power: Volatility hurts companies that offer only basic products, while rewarding those that provide unique value.
• Increased Switching Costs: When you become essential during chaotic times, customers stay loyal.
• Internal Capability: By navigating volatility, companies become more agile, creative, and resilient.

Volatility speeds up change. Companies that adapt creatively now will keep their advantage, even after things settle down.

​A CEO Playbook for Turning Volatility Into Strength

Here is a simple, practical framework CEOs can use:

Step 1: Diagnose the Risks (Vertical Thinking). Understand revenue, costs, customers, and competitive vulnerabilities.

Step 2: Design New Solutions (Lateral Thinking). Create volatility-specific offerings that reduce customer uncertainty.

Step 3: Differentiate Deeply. Build value that competitors cannot copy or match.

Step 4: Strengthen Relationships. Be more present and more helpful than competitors during challenging conditions.

Step 5: Move Forward While Others Hold Back. Make bold moves when your competitors hesitate. This is how you build a real advantage.

Conclusion: 

Volatility does not create winners or losers. It shows who they are. It reveals them.

Companies that move first and create new value will capture lasting market share.

The companies that hesitate or wait for stability will fall further behind.

The CEOs who thrive in volatile conditions do three things better than anyone:

They prepare better.

They innovate faster.

They use volatility as an opportunity.

Take action now to build advantages your competitors will not see coming.

Jim Zitek

I turn complex product problems into successful solutions 

with a competitive advantage

 

In most B2B industries, business leaders tend to solve problems in similar ways. They examine data, brainstorm ideas, study competitors, and strive to enhance existing solutions. These approaches feel safe, rational, and businesslike.

But they also lead to the same predictable ideas.

True innovation — creating new revenue, categories, and advantages — demands more than logic. It requires breaking from established thinking and exploring ideas your competitors wouldn’t consider.

That’s why Edward de Bono created one of the most underrated creativity tools for business leaders: Provocation, also called “Po.” When used effectively, it becomes a strategic tool that helps you break free from industry norms and generate bold, valuable ideas.

Let’s look at what makes Provocation unique and how your organization can use it to gain an edge.

What Is Provocation (Po)?

Provocation is a lateral thinking tool. You make a statement that is illogical, impossible, or absurd on purpose to help your mind see new possibilities.

De Bono introduced the term “Po” to show that the statement should not be judged or dismissed. It permits you to set logic aside.

Some of de Bono’s classic provocations include:

• “Po: houses should be heated from the ceiling down.”
• “Po: Cars should have square wheels.
• “Po: A restaurant should serve dessert first.”
• “Po: a company should hire people with no qualifications.”

These statements are not meant to be true. Their purpose is to provoke new thinking.

When your brain tries to make sense of something absurd,

it can discover insights you would never find through normal reasoning.

Why CEOs Should Use Provocation

1. It breaks your team out of “industry thinking.”

Every industry’s unspoken assumptions limit innovation:

• Customers expect this.”
• “You can’t do that in B2B”.

Provocation helps your organization break through these invisible barriers.

2. It creates ideas your competitors cannot predict.

Most companies use the same strategy tools. Few business leaders use anything that challenges logic itself.

Just one provocation can lead to a solution that gives you a lasting competitive advantage.

3. It accelerates breakthrough thinking.

Rather than just improving your current model, Provocation helps you imagine new models more quickly than traditional brainstorming.

4. It helps teams escape the “gridlock” of expertise.

Even smart teams can get stuck quickly because their expertise makes them repeat old patterns.

Provocation breaks these patterns right away.

When to Use Provocation

Use it when you’re facing:

• stalled innovation
• slow growth
• declining differentiation
• strategic inflection points
• customer complaints that keep repeating
• complexity you can’t untangle through analysis
• an opportunity that requires fresh thinking

It’s especially effective when you know the root cause of a problem but don’t have a solution yet. 

Why it’s so effective:

Make a statement that defies logic, best practices, or common sense.

Example from de Bono: “Po: Cars should have square wheels.” Absurd? Yes.

Is it useful? More than you might expect.

Step 2: Explore the consequences. Ask:

• What would happen if this were true?
• What problem might this solve?
• What assumptions does this break?

Square wheels cause vibration, which could be useful for compacting surfaces.

Insight: “Movement doesn’t have to be smooth to create value.”

Step 3: Extract the core insight.

From the absurdity, a principle emerges.

In business, a provocation such as “Po: we should eliminate customer service completely” might reveal this insight:

“Customers want products so simple they require no service at all.”

Step 4: Move toward practical solutions.

Turn the insight into practical ideas. This final step leads to breakthroughs.

For example:

• Self-guided onboarding
• AI-assisted support
• Proactive issue detection
• A radically simplified interface

All of this starts with an idea that doesn’t seem to make sense.

​Why Provocation Works Better Than Brainstorming

Traditional brainstorming:

• Stays within known boundaries
• Reinforces existing assumptions
• Produces incremental ideas
• Favors loud or senior voices

Provocation:

• Breaks boundaries
• Challenges assumptions
• Produces non-linear ideas
• Democratizes creativity

This isn’t just brainstorming. It’s a structured way to shake things up.

Which kinds of B2B challenges benefit most from Provocation? Consider these categories:

• Strategic reinvention
• Product or service redesign
• Customer experience transformation
• Business model innovation
• Process simplification
• Identifying new revenue streams
• Differentiation challenges

If the problem is routine, logic is enough. However, if the problem is complex or affects the entire system, a strategic approach is necessary. In these cases, Provocation works better.

Final Thoughts

Your competitors are focused on optimizing. But optimization rarely creates a real advantage. Innovation, led by leaders like you, is what makes the difference.

Most teams attempt to generate new ideas by employing the same thinking that led to their existing ideas.

• They brainstorm logically.
• They make lists.
• They stay realistic. But Provocation gives you the power to:
• Disrupt old thinking
• Unlock breakthrough thinking with one powerful word: Po.

If you want your team to think in new ways, try a new technique. That’s where Edward de Bono’s Provocation can help.

Jim Zitek

 I turn complex product problems into creative solutions with a competitive advantage.

In a competitive market, the primary goal is to gain a competitive edge. Business leaders do this by learning as much as they can about the market.

The main idea is straightforward: customers purchase products to accomplish a task. For example, people don’t buy a drill bit just to have it. They use it to create a quarter-inch hole, allowing them to hang a shelf and organize their home.

When you start looking into your products, pricing, and what customers expect, it’s easy to fall back on old habits. This is often where strategies fail before they even start. Teams often ask questions like:

• “Is our price too high?”
• “What features should we add?”

These kinds of questions often miss the real issue. 

They don’t focus on strategy. You may obtain data, but not genuine insight. In a crowded market, asking the same questions as everyone else won’t help you stand out. Real advantage comes from asking better questions.

Instead of digging for deeper insights, teams often compare product features rather than what truly drives value. They focus on price comparisons instead of understanding what gives them pricing power. This difference matters.

To gain a competitive edge, you need to determine what sets your company apart from others in the eyes of customers. The goal isn’t to know what everyone else knows, but to discover what truly sets you apart.

To avoid these common mistakes, you need a better approach. 

So, how do you formulate the right research questions? The biggest mistake in research is starting with the questions themselves.

If you start by brainstorming questions, your team will stay stuck in its own biases and blind spots. This leads to vanity metrics, like “85% of users like our new logo.” These numbers might look good, but they don’t help you beat your main competitor.

The right question doesn’t come out of nowhere. It comes from a clear strategy. It’s like a key made to open a specific door.

So, where should you start your research? 

Start with the outcome you want. Most companies start research by asking, “What do customers think about our product?” But that’s not the best place to begin. Instead, ask: What decision will give us a unique and defensible advantage?

Example decisions:

• What value can we deliver that competitors cannot easily copy?
• What specific customer segment will value it the most?
• What tradeoffs will we intentionally make (and which will we ignore)?

Your questions should help you make crucial decisions. Research isn’t just about collecting facts; it’s about finding insights that guide your strategy.

To avoid this, always define the decision or problem before you write your questions.

Before writing any survey questions, ensure you understand the decision you need to make or the problem you want to solve.

Don’t start with, “What should we ask about price?” 

Instead, begin with, “We are losing 30% of customers at checkout. Why?” Then, determine whether the answer involves a pricing change, a simpler checkout process, or the addition of a “buy now, pay later” option.

See the difference? A clear problem statement gives you strong focus. Now your research has a clear purpose.

• Bad Question: “Is our price fair?” (What does “fair” even mean?)
• Good Question: “When you saw the final price, what thoughts or feelings caused you to abandon your cart?”
• Good Question: “You completed your purchase. What other options did you consider before deciding this price was worth it?”

4 Questions That Lead to a Competitive Advantage

​For products and features, your goal is to understand what makes you different and what value you offer—not just what people prefer. When it comes to pricing, focus on understanding how customers perceive the value, not just the price itself. Never ask, “Is this too expensive?”

To address customer expectations, try to identify what needs aren’t being met and what assumptions customers have.

Next, build questions inside these four pillars:

Pillar	Purpose	Example Research Questions
1. Customer Truths	Identify what they actually value, not just what they say	What frustrates you most about current options? What would you be willing to pay more for if someone delivered it to you?
2. Market Gaps	Identify missing value OR underserved segments	Where are current suppliers letting you down? What is not good enough? What is being over-delivered?
3. Value Levers	Identify what could make you uniquely valuable	In what situations does a 2x result matter more than price? What benefit would change your decision immediately?
4. Competitor Blind Spots	Identify areas you can exploit that they ignore	What do all suppliers seem to assume is important that actually isn’t? Where are they investing effort that doesn’t matter?

By focusing your research on these four areas, you can find ways to gain a competitive advantage instead of just collecting general opinions.

Why This Matters

Competitive advantage doesn’t come from just knowing what customers like.

Competitive advantage comes from knowing what customers value most, what competitors don’t offer, and what customers are willing to pay for and rely on.

The questions you ask in research shape what you learn. Average questions lead to average strategies. If you focus on competitive advantage, you’ll find insights that help you stand out.

​Conclusion

Good research questions make strategy possible. They bring clarity, show where you can gain an advantage, lower risk, and help you focus creativity on what matters most.

The quality of your research questions shapes your competitive advantage. It’s both a design challenge and a test of creativity.

 

Jim Zitek

I turn complex product problems into creative solutions with a competitive advantage.

 

The Corporate Habit of Competition

Walk into almost a strategy meeting, and you’ll hear one phrase repeated: “How do we beat the competition?” It sounds strategic, but it’s actually a trap. 

When your strategy revolves around beating others, you’re playing their game. You’re reacting. You’re not creating advantage—you’re defending territory.

True competitive advantage is different. It’s about designing value that others can’t easily copy. Yet few companies do it. Why?

1. They Don’t Research Deeply Enough

Many companies know their markets but don’t understand their customers well enough.
They measure what’s easy—market share, pricing, and brand awareness—but not what matters: customer motivations, frustrations, and desires.

 Without insight research, they can’t discover the opportunities that fuel innovation or create distinct value.

The Problem

Most companies spend their energy fighting competitors instead of creating something competitors can’t match. The result?

• Shrinking margins
• Price pressure
• Market fatigue
• Imitated ideas

The Core Reasons

Barrier	Description	Consequence
Weak Research	Focus on data, not insights	Competing on the exact dimensions
No Creative Process	Creativity is seen as random	No breakthrough ideas
Short-Term Thinking	Quarterly obsession	No sustainable differentiation
Fear and Risk Aversion	Avoiding bold choices	Bland, safe products
Price Dependence	Competing on cost	Margin erosion
Creativity–Strategy Gap	No integration	Ideas die before impact
Leadership Culture	Rewards safety, not curiosity	Innovation suffocates

The Cost of Competing

• Lower profitability
• Limited pricing power
• Higher customer churn
• Loss of strategic identity

2. Creativity Is Missing—or Misunderstood

Creativity is often treated as a marketing or product function, not a business discipline.
But every advantage begins with creative insight: a new way to solve a problem or frame a value.

Vertical thinking is a logical, sequential, and analytical approach to problem-solving. It involves building on existing ideas and moving step-by-step toward a single, correct solution. This method relies on a defined framework, and excludes any idea that is not logically sound.

Lateral thinking, a term and method coined by Edward de Bono, is a creative, non-linear, and indirect approach to problem-solving. It involves disrupting established patterns and “thinking outside the box” to generate new and unexpected ideas. Instead of selecting one path, it aims to create as many alternative ideas and perspectives as possible.

3. Strategy Become Short-Term

Quarterly earnings dominate the leadership focus, so strategy turns tactical—optimize pricing, cut costs, tweak features. This creates motion without progress.Long-term strategic advantage requires patience, research, and experimentation—three things quarterly metrics rarely reward.

4. Fear Often Rules

Creating advantage means making choices—what to pursue and what to ignore.
That takes courage. But fear of failure, uncertainty, and being different keeps teams safe.Safe ideas are comfortable but invisible. Bold ideas make you visible but vulnerable.

5. The Price Trap

Price feels controllable. You can lower it tomorrow. But when companies can’t define or deliver unique value, they default to competing on cost. This erodes margins, weakens brands, and limits the ability to invest in innovation—the very thing that could create an advantage.

6. The Missing Connection Between Creativity and Strategy

Competitive advantage lives at the intersection of creativity and strategy.

• Creativity generates the ideas that make you different.
• Strategy validates and focuses those ideas into a market advantage.

Without integration, creativity drifts and strategy stagnates.

7. The Benefits of Creating a Competitive Advantage

• Higher Profit Margins — Pricing power replaces price cuts.
• Stronger Customer Loyalty — Customers buy into your value, not your price.
• Distinct Market Position — Competitors can’t imitate what they don’t understand.
• Reduced Risk — Innovation is validated and aligned strategically.
• Long-Term Leadership — Your firm shapes the market, not follows it.

 Conclusion

Most companies don’t fail to create a competitive advantage because they can’t.
They fail because they choose the easier path—fighting competitors instead of out-creating them.

In a world of copycats, sameness, and shrinking margins, the companies that integrate research, creativity, and strategy will dominate the next decade. The real goal isn’t to fight harder and make the competition irrelevant. That’s the power of creating a competitive advantage. 

Key Message

Don’t fight competitors—outthink them.
The strongest companies build a value monopoly, not a price war.

Jim Zitek

 I turn complex product problems into creative solutions 

with a competitive advantage.