5 Stress Tests That Every Leader Should Run
In 2020, the world stopped.
Revenue vanished overnight. Teams scattered. Leaders froze.
One truth became clear:
The companies that rehearsed hardship survived.
The ones that hadn’t? They broke.
Last quarter at IntuiWell, we ran a stress test:
What if we had zero clients for the next 90 days?
The outcome? We pivoted into building a digital product that opened a new support channel.
That single drill gave us options when others would have frozen.
That’s Stress Inoculation: Building resilience in calm times so crisis doesn’t own you.
Look around today: layoffs, inflation, market swings, wars, and climate shocks.
Uncertainty is permanent.
Crisis isn’t if. It’s when.
And if you wait until it hits, it’s too late.
Resilience isn’t motivational fluff.
It’s a muscle. You build it by rehearsing adversity before it arrives.
I call these Resilience Rehearsals: The 5 Stress Tests That Every Leader Should Run
- Work/Business → Simulate job loss or client loss. Draft a 30-day reinvention plan.
- Teams/Organizations → Run fire drills: lose your biggest client, freeze funding, cut 20% of the workforce on paper. Then solve it.
- Money → Slash spending for a week. Notice what truly matters.
- Food → Live on the cheapest budget for 7 days. You’ll survive without luxury.
- Shelter → Sleep on the floor. Strip comfort to essentials.
Discomfort is the training ground for resilience.
Because when the real crisis hits, you won’t freeze. You’ll move.
Everyone will be tested: leaders, teams, companies.
You either prepare now, or you self-destruct later.
Resilience isn’t fear.
It’s freedom.
The freedom to act when others freeze.
The confidence to execute when storms arrive.
So, leaders:
When the next storm hits, will your team panic… or execute with calm clarity?