This is me stepping up in response to a big shock.

The Brexit vote is a massive shock to me and from what I see and hear it’s a big shock to the ‘system’. No-one knows what is going to happen and there is huge uncertainty. Already I have spoken with executives who have had orders cancelled, downgraded their forecasts and are contemplating shedding staff.

For me, at least, one thing is certain – complexity, confusion, chaos and uncertainty have just deepened. When people are uncertain they lose confidence, procrastinate and hold back and things slow down both at the micro (you and me) and macro (national economy) levels. Also, when the people are uncertain teams, organisations, countries and continents fracture. Right now, this is a dangerous time for business.

What’s needed right now is to stay strong and nurture and protect confidence. I know how to do that, I’ve been doing it with leadership teams for nearly twenty years, so I am stepping up to do my modest bit to help business leaders at this time of uncertainty. I don’t know anything about politics or how we are going to work this through with the EU though I do have proven approaches on how to stay strong and protect confidence and would like to freely share those with leaders who want to get through this as best they can.

I have been here before. There was Y2K, a big shock that never happened though boy did I worry about it at the time. I was made redundant in 2001 which was a massive shock to me. Then there was 9/11 and 7/7 – appalling events, very clear in my memory and gut and which are still impacting in the world and then the recession that started in 2008 and for many places outside London continues today. Throughout all this time I have worked on staying strong and protected my confidence and along with good relationships and a fair degree of luck I have managed to get through in pretty good shape. So here I go again, diving into the uncertainty, though this time I’d like to share what I have learnt and developed.

This is what I am offering: three, free, two hour events, one each in Newcastle, London and Edinburgh aimed at business leaders who ‘get’ the importance of staying strong and protecting their own and their peoples’ confidence and want to know how. The session will be partly me sharing concepts and partly the participants working up their plan.

If you think this would be helpful, have contacts in the business community, can access a room or venue that will accommodate about twenty people and like me want to help out in a modest way then please drop me a note to dave@dsabuilding.co.uk and let’s do it in the next few weeks.

I’m making a promise here – I’m going to share as much as I know about staying strong and protecting confidence in the time available so that business leaders can get lots of useful takeaways – this is me stepping up, trying to help people respond to the big shock.