Most small and mid-sized businesses don’t lose to a single dramatic punch. Instead, they lose to a slow, almost imperceptible drift. A competitor ships something slightly better. A customer expectation quietly shifts. A new channel starts working for everyone else. Prices change. Tech gets commoditized. And by the time you notice, you’re not “a little behind”, you’re trying to do a frantic catch-up lap with your shoelaces tied together. That’s what a market radar is for: a s

In businesses that have grown past the “everyone in the same room” phase, decision latency becomes a stealth tax on everything you care about: revenue, morale, customer trust, and the ability to seize opportunities before they turn into someone else’s press release.

Over my career, I’ve watched organizations get blindsided and immediately panic, not because the situation is unsolvable, but because they have no options on the table. When you haven’t thought through alternatives ahead of time, it feels like there are no alternatives. That’s when fear takes the wheel.