Why Stability Is the New Competitive Advantage
The question many founders are quietly asking is not how to grow faster. It is how to keep the business steady enough to respond when things change.
This article is a collaboration written by Merril Gilbert for our blog!
Merril Gilbert is the author of Fired to Founder and advisor to founders and business owners navigating growth, transition, and capital decisions. As CEO of Curious Futures and creator of FoundHer Forward, she works across multiple sectors, bringing an operator’s perspective informed by emerging technology and shifting economic conditions. Her work focuses on how companies build durability, reduce risk, and make clear decisions in uncertain markets.
Reframing the Moment
We are early into 2026, and many founders are realizing that the way they used to plan no longer fits the reality in front of them.
For a long time, planning followed a familiar rhythm. You looked at what worked, made adjustments, and set targets for the year ahead. Conditions shifted, but not radically. There was room to correct course.
That assumption is harder to hold now.
What leaders are dealing with today is not a lack of ambition. It is a lack of certainty. Inputs change quickly. Decisions carry more weight. Timing matters more than it used to. Planning still matters, but it looks different.
The question many founders are quietly asking is not how to grow faster. It is how to keep the business steady enough to respond when things change.
Why 2026 Changes the Equation
This is what makes 2026 feel different.
Capital is still available, but access takes longer and expectations are higher. Investors want to understand not just the opportunity, but how the company actually operates when pressure shows up.
Founders are holding more responsibility for longer periods of time. The space between decisions and consequences has narrowed. Mistakes are harder to unwind.
A few realities are shaping this year:
Capital is selective.
Timelines are uneven.
Risk stays with founders longer.
Growth without structure creates strain.
In this environment, the companies that hold together are the ones that have planned for disruption rather than assumed stability.
Optionality Over Dependency
Stability begins with optionality. Optionality is the ability to make choices without being forced into them.
Companies that depend too heavily on a single customer, funding source, or individual decision maker are exposed when conditions shift. When one thing breaks, everything feels urgent.
Companies with optionality have room to respond. They can slow without stalling. They can pursue capital without being dependent on it. They can adjust direction without unraveling the business.
This is why stability is more than a clean P&L. It shows up in revenue quality, customer retention, margin awareness, and the ability to reduce risk in measurable ways. Founders who can demonstrate grounded traction and thoughtful tradeoffs create more paths forward.
Stability is not the opposite of growth. It is what allows growth to hold.
Stability as a Leadership Skill
In uncertain environments, leadership becomes the primary asset.
Leaders who operate with clarity and integrity build stronger teams. They surround themselves with people who know their roles and can make decisions when disruptions arrive. This matters more than speed.
A stable company does not require constant founder involvement to function. It runs because responsibility and trust are distributed. The work does not bottleneck at the top.
Resilient companies also rethink how they measure value. What can the organization deliver consistently? Where are the pressure points? What assumptions need to be tested before they become problems?
These conversations happen across leadership, not in isolation. Alignment allows obstacles to surface earlier and opportunities to be acted on without delay.
Scaling in 2026 is costly. A strong foundation is not a delay to growth. It is a competitive advantage built in reality, not best case scenarios.
Bringing It Together
In a recent episode of the series Fallout, a character says, “chaos is easy, planning is hard.” It captures the moment many founders are living through.
Stability is not passive. It is intentional. It requires planning for different outcomes and choosing realistic paths forward. It means using tools that support the business rather than extract from it. It also means relying on human judgment, not just automated signals.
Stability is the opposite of chaos. It creates the conditions for focus, trust, and durability.
What would change if stability, not scale, became the metric you led toward?