Will your company survive and even thrive in the Post-COVID-19 economy? Think again, the data is not in your favor.

In a 2010 article in Harvard Business Review titled “Roaring Out of Recession” authors Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, and Franz Wohlgezogen provide insight into how companies faired 3 years post-recession for the past three recessionary periods (1980 crisis, 1990 slowdown, and 2000). After researching 4,700 companies, the data showed that 17% of companies didn’t survive, resulting in bankruptcy, being acquired or forced to go private. In fact, 3 years post-recession, 80% did not regain their prerecession growth rates for sales and profits, while only 9% flourished!

What was the difference between those that flourished and those that didn’t? The companies that flourished were found to effectively balance between cost-cutting and investing to grow after the recession, but it isn’t that simple.

It comes down to the psychology of the...