9/11 and Leading Through Uncertainty

September 10, 2001, was a Tuesday.

I remember it because we had just finished a review of Nike's early direct-to-consumer metrics. Growth was modest but steady. The roadmap felt predictable. The question was execution, not survival.

September 12 was different.

The world changed. Consumer behavior froze. Retail partners paused orders. Supply chains suddenly felt fragile in ways no one had modeled. And ecommerce—already an experiment—became an afterthought in boardrooms focused on immediate disruption.

I was in Beaverton, watching leadership teams grapple with questions no one had answers to:

How long does this last?

Do we pause investment?

What happens to consumer confidence?

Do we have a role here?

That period taught me something that has never left: Uncertainty is not a pause. It's a test.

The Fragility of Momentum

Before 9/11, we had momentum. The numbers were small by today's standards, but they were improving. The team believed in the trajectory.

After 9/11, momentum vanished overnight.

Not because the work stopped. Because the context shifted.

Retail traffic declined sharply. Wholesale partners became conservative. Marketing budgets tightened. And ecommerce—already fighting for legitimacy—had to justify itself in a climate where every dollar was scrutinized.

What I learned in those weeks:

Momentum is not structural. It is environmental.

The same work that produced growth in August produced stagnation in October. Not because we changed. Because the world did.

That realization reframed how I think about performance forever.

What Leadership Actually Meant

At that stage in my career, I was not making capital decisions. I was not setting enterprise strategy. I was leading a small team inside a much larger machine.

But leadership still mattered.

What did that mean day to day?

Clarity of purpose. The team needed to know what we were still trying to prove, even if the timeline had shifted.

Emotional steadiness. If I panicked, they would panic. If I froze, they would freeze.

Focus on what we controlled. We could not change consumer sentiment. We could not reopen retail. But we could improve our instrumentation, understand our metrics better, and prepare for the recovery that would eventually come.

That last point became a pattern.

In every downturn since—2008, 2020, the rate-driven corrections of 2022—I have returned to the same instinct:

The work done in the down cycle determines the trajectory in the up cycle.

**What We Did That Mattered**

We didn't launch anything transformative in late 2001. That would have been tone-deaf and impractical.

But we did three things that later proved valuable:

1. We deepened our understanding of customer behavior. With fewer transactions, we analyzed each one more carefully. We learned who was still buying, why, and what that implied about resilience.

2. We strengthened cross-functional relationships. The crisis forced conversations with supply chain, finance, and retail that would have taken months to schedule in normal times.

3. We documented what we were learning. Not for presentation—for ourselves. That documentation later became the foundation for better processes when growth returned.

None of this was glamorous. It was quiet, disciplined work.

That work compounded.

**The Pattern That Repeats**

Twenty-five years later, I've seen this pattern repeat across industries, cycles, and roles:

2008 at Microsoft: Budgets froze, but the teams that used the pause to improve governance came out stronger.

2020 at Conn's: COVID disrupted everything, but the operators who focused on what they controlled stabilized faster.

2022 at SelectBlinds: Rate hikes compressed margins, but the discipline installed during quiet periods protected the P&L.

Uncertainty does not discriminate. It affects everyone.

But it does not affect everyone equally.

The difference is not intelligence. It is not even experience.

The difference is whether you treat uncertainty as a threat or as a test.

**What I Carry Forward**

That fall taught me something I could not have learned in stable times:

Leadership is not about having answers. It is about being present while the answers emerge.

The team does not need you to predict the future. They need you to navigate the present with clarity, steadiness, and focus on what matters.

When I later became CEO, that lesson became part of how I operate:

In a margin squeeze: focus on pricing discipline, not panic cuts.

In a supply chain disruption: focus on partner relationships, not short-term fixes.

In a leadership transition: focus on stability, not speed.

The world will always create uncertainty.

The question is whether you meet it with discipline or disarray.

I learned that answer in 2001.

And I've been applying it ever since.

For recruiters and boards reading this:

If you're looking for a CEO who has led through uncertainty—not just studied it—let's talk. I've been in the room when the ground shifted. I know what to protect, what to ignore, and what to build while others wait.