Business Difficulties Mastered Are Opportunities Won

Business intelligence often draws its most enduring lessons from nature. One of the most powerful metaphors is the eagle, an animal associated with strength, vision and longevity. At around 30 to 40 years of age, the eagle faces a critical turning point. Its beak becomes blunt, its claws lose their sharpness, its feathers wear out, and even its legendary eyesight begins to fail. At this stage, the eagle has two choices: succumb to decline or endure a painful process of self-renewal.

The eagle retreats to the mountains, where it sheds its worn feathers, breaks off its blunt beak against rock, removes its weakened claws and clears its eyes. The process is slow, difficult and painful, but necessary. After several weeks, the eagle emerges renewed, with sharp vision, strong claws and fresh feathers. It regains the ability to soar above storms rather than fear them, drawing energy from turbulent winds to rise higher. This renewal allows it to survive for decades more.

Modern corporations face a similar reality. Business environments evolve, markets shift and systems that once delivered results inevitably experience fatigue. Practices that worked two decades ago may no longer be effective today. Without periodic self-reflection and renewal, organisations risk stagnation and decline.

Institutions that rely solely on past successes often fall into mental fossilisation. Leadership becomes rigid, innovation slows, and organisational energy diminishes. Talent renewal becomes essential. Without the deliberate injection of new skills, ideas and perspectives, organisations struggle to pioneer new frontiers and remain competitive.

In business intelligence, this phase is often described as “shutdown mode”. If ignored, it can lead to premature institutional decline. Tough decisions are required to remove inefficiencies, outdated processes and strategic clutter. Renewal demands courage. As Albert Einstein observed, breakthroughs come when old problems are viewed from new angles, supported by creative imagination.

Organisations that succeed are those willing to interrogate themselves thoroughly, both internally and externally. They embrace scenario planning, modelling and forecasting, not as academic exercises but as strategic tools. Such organisations are better equipped to navigate uncertainty and shape the future rather than react to it.

Business environments will always be unpredictable and, at times, chaotic. The responsibility of leadership is to identify order within that chaos. As Voltaire noted, no problem can withstand sustained thinking. When organisations adopt disciplined, creative and unconventional thinking — much like the eagle riding the storm — difficulties mastered become opportunities won.

Professor Mufaro Gunduza mentors Business Intelligence at Mount Carmel Institute, the Indian School of Management and UNISA. He is SADC Investments Advisor to Dr Farzam Kamalabadi, Founder of the Future Trends Group and Botswana Presidential Envoy on Business and International Relations. He is the author of several books including Unleashing BlueSky Thinking, Spotting Business Opportunities and Big Picture Thinking (Bookboon Publishers, London).