Ryan Kunkel is the President of Third Road Management.
There is a crucial moment in flight known as V1—often called the pilot’s point of no return. It’s the speed at which a plane must commit to takeoff. Beyond V1, even if a problem arises, aborting the mission becomes more dangerous than staying the course. Business leaders encounter their own V1 moments: inflection points where hesitation carries more risk than forward motion, and few decisions are reversible.
In a previous role, I spent extensive time working in the airshow/aviation industry. This exposure sparked a deep fascination and genuine respect for the demanding skill set required to be a pilot. I quickly realized how closely these qualities mirror those needed to succeed as a business leader. This parallel has profoundly shaped my approach to leadership and problem solving. Just as a pilot must expertly manage countless real-time variables and make quick, informed decisions, so too must a leader/entrepreneur navigate the ever-changing and unexpected landscape of business with a calmness under pressure.
Successful leaders know which metrics matter most, what’s driving them and whether the right people are in the right seats to respond. When turbulence hits, you don’t need to have every answer, but you do need to know what to watch for, how to interpret what’s happening and who to trust to take action.
Know Your Core Indicators
If you’ve ever looked inside the cockpit of a commercial airplane, you’ll notice an array of dials, switches and monitors delivering an overwhelming number of readings. But for the pilot, three in particular matter in flight: direction, speed and elevation. Everything else is secondary, supporting indicators used only when something veers off course.
Business leadership is no different. Although the dials may vary from business to business, the focus is the same. Far too often, business leaders get caught staring at the wrong gauges—hyper-focused on vanity metrics, internal politics or the crisis of the week. The result? Burnout, mission drift and, in some cases, failure. When everything seems important, it can become impossible to know what’s essential.
Can you identify the mission-critical dials for your business? The question isn’t how many KPIs to track; it’s whether you’ve identified the few that truly define your trajectory. Rather than chase every metric, the most effective leaders simplify their dashboards. That means zeroing in on the metrics that signal actual business health and understanding what’s driving them.
Every business should have and know their profitability metrics, customer-centric metrics, etc. For example:
• Profitability metrics (i.e., gross profit, net profit, EBITDA)
• Liquidity metrics (i.e., current ratio or cash conversion cycle, etc.)
• Efficiency metrics (i.e., inventory turnover or AR turnover)
• Leverage metrics (i.e., debt-to-equity ratio)
• Growth metrics (i.e., revenue growth rate)
• Cash-flow metrics (i.e., free cash flow or operating cash flow)
Act With Decisive Urgency
When turbulence hits, pilots don’t panic. They scan their instruments and take deliberate action. Great business leaders do the same. When a challenge arises—whether it’s a market shock or employee turnover—they pause, assess, then act with intention. Pilots don’t dismantle engines midair because of a flickering dial, but when a true warning light flashes, they respond without hesitation. And so should leaders.
Success hinges on being clear, having focus and knowing what to measure. Do you and your team have clarity on the real drivers behind your KPIs? Can you distinguish between a minor fluctuation and a real threat?
More importantly, do you have the right people in the right seats to respond when action is needed? If you find a gap—whether in capability, experience or bandwidth—don’t wait to fill it. Leveling up your team, with full-time or fractional support, can mean the difference between a smooth flight and losing momentum. Just like pilots trust their co-pilots and crew, leaders must have the confidence that their team can navigate what’s ahead.
Train For The Unexpected
Pilots train for turbulence. They spend hours in simulators so they’re ready for worst-case scenarios. Their goal isn’t to prevent every dip but to respond with clarity when one occurs. Business leaders should do the same.
Financial modeling is the equivalent of training. It’s planning for scenarios for your particular business, such as growth rates or losing specific clients. You should consider the base case, best case and worst case. From scenario planning and forecasting and from preparedness to plan implementation, the more you rehearse and pressure-test your model, the more resilient your business becomes.
The cockpit isn’t calm because the world outside is. It’s calm because the pilot knows what matters, what doesn’t and what to do when things get bumpy or veer off course. The most successful business leaders lead with the same calm and intention.
Fly With Intention
In today’s volatile environment—where economic uncertainty, global events and AI-driven disruption collide—business leaders are inundated with metrics and opinions. But the best leaders know that long-term success isn’t about reacting to every dial; it’s about staying focused on the levers that truly move the business forward. Business will always have its share of turbulence. Smart leaders have prepared their businesses to navigate the bumps and built strong teams with their hands on the yoke to successfully fly on.
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