Latest news with #midyearreset
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Time To Take Stock: How To Have A Mid-Year Reset
To reset you need to connect with your core Mid-year is a good time for leaders to evaluate both their personal and professional progress since January. Your goals may have shifted over the course of the year as priorities and circumstances have evolved. Or perhaps you're not as close to achieving your New Year's resolutions as you might have hoped? A mid-year reset is a good opportunity to take stock of what you've done so far and where you want to go next. Here's how to have a mid-year reset and prepare for the second half of 2025: A true leadership reset requires reconnecting with your core, according to Archana Mohan, author of The Through Line. 'This begins by recalibrating our through lines, the threads that connect who we are to how we lead, grounding us in authenticity, clarity and purpose,' she says. Mohan believes that reconnecting with your core starts with reflection and asking these important questions: What does leadership mean to me? What are the features of leadership that make me come back to it day after day? This internal recalibration has strategic value at the organizational level, too. 'When leaders reconnect with their core, they are better prepared to navigate change and realign with the broader business goals,' Mohan notes. 'The reset strengthens resilience, sharpens decision-making and aligns leadership with long-term impact.' Mohan also highlights that a reset encourages reflection and growth. 'The beauty of a reset is that it lets us see change as an opportunity," she says. "Understanding who we are and acknowledging that we are works-in-progress are essential components of effective leadership.' Busy schedules mean that quality thinking time is often hard to come by. Many leaders find themselves waiting for the right moment to pause and reflect, but that moment never comes. 'To reset both yourself and your organization in a meaningful way, you must intentionally carve out strategic thinking time,' advises Caroline Taylor, co-author of The Neglected Acts of Leadership and managing director of leadership development consultancy The Oxford Group. 'Finding time to think among demanding agendas, overflowing inboxes, and the daily pressures that come with leadership isn't easy,' Taylor acknowledges, 'but unless you make changes, your schedule will only become busier. As a result, your capacity to work out what's next becomes even more blurred.' Fortunately, thinking time doesn't require extended time away from the office. What's key is to take control of your diary to make space for it. Taylor says: 'Ask yourself: What can I stop doing? What can I delegate to others? And what boundaries or rules do I have in my calendar? Once you have this clarity, you can free up space in your day for the uninterrupted thinking time that makes a reset possible.' Resetting involves being prepared to pivot your overall business strategy as market conditions change. Adeolu Adewumi-Zer, founder of ZER Consulting Africa and author of Afro-Optimism Unleashed, believes the mid-year point is the perfect time to evaluate the suitability of your current business strategy, focusing on scalability and sustainability. 'Now is the time to create a clear roadmap outlining how you're going to achieve your business goals for the remainder of the year,' emphasizes Adewumi-Zer. This roadmap should consider factors such as technology, infrastructure, people and financials. From here, you can identify the consultants, mentors or partners who can provide valuable insights and support to help you achieve your goals. To turn strategy into action, Adewumi-Zer stresses the importance of establishing measurable targets to evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies, saying: 'This ensures you don't lose sight of desired progress over the rest of the year.' While you may have started the year pursuing exciting new goals, now we're at the halfway point you might have retreated to your comfort zone. If you're noticing that you are simply going through the motions, then a mid-year reset is likely to be necessary, argues Zana Goic Petricevic, founder of leadership development consultancy Bold Leadership Culture and author of Leading on the Edge. For Petricevic, reinvigorating your approach to boldness and risk-taking is vital to resetting. 'If you find that progress is being stifled or you're missing key market opportunities, this reset is a prime opportunity to try that bold, innovative idea that is as yet untested,' she suggests. To reset and assume this boldness, Petricevic advises leaders to focus on their specific circle of influence and those persistent game-changing ideas that patiently linger in their minds even though they're nervous about trying them out. She recommends considering where and how to apply these ideas and what will happen if you don't take action. 'Each of us is inherently bold, that is a fundamental truth,' Petricevic states. 'Denying this truth is the first step toward sabotaging our potential.' The success of your wider strategic goals is likely to rest with the financial performance of the organization. For that reason, reviewing your resources is a key element of a strategic mid-year reset. 'Conducting a mid-year financial audit allows leaders to take stock of where the organization is now and how it has progressed since the last audit,' says Alysha Randall, founder of Fast Growth Consulting and author of Financial Leadership Fundamentals. They can then adjust goals and strategies as appropriate. When conducting an internal audit, Randall advises starting with a financial evaluation - reviewing numbers and key performance indicators, followed by an assessment of internal controls to identify any gaps. Next, examine any relevant industry regulations and finally review current financial operations and processes. 'This internal audit enables leaders to identify and focus on their priorities for the next six to 12 months,' Randall concludes, 'laying down the essential foundation for a mid-year reset and subsequent growth.' The world is changing fast, continually creating new challenges and opportunities for leaders. At the same time, you may find your energy levels are starting to dip if you have been working flat-out through the year. A mid-year reset enables you to assess how your strategic and leadership approach needs to evolve, in line with new priorities. As a result, it will set you on track to have a successful second half of 2025.
Entrepreneur
08-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Ctrl+Alt+CEO: The May Reboot
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. For many, May sits in an awkward middle ground - not quite the urgency of Q1, not yet the intensity of summer. But for a growing number of leaders across industries, this mid-year moment is becoming something else entirely: a deliberate reset. Not a slowdown. Not a break. But a re-evaluation of process, purpose and performance. "What if a deliberate mid‑year pause could be the single biggest catalyst for your Q3 success?" asks Michael Ryan, founder of digital marketing agency Ink Digital. His question isn't rhetorical - it's tactical. "A strategic 'May Reset' focused on refining processes, shifting leadership mindset, and carving out creative space positions your business to enter summer not just energized, but truly aligned with its goals." Ryan's agency is using May to overhaul two foundational areas: client onboarding and campaign retrospectives. "We've learned that small inefficiencies in communication and feedback loops compound over months," he says. "So we're using May's natural lull to streamline workflows, accelerate creative turnarounds, and ensure every project kicks off with crystal‑clear objectives." But if May is about rethinking structure, it's also about rethinking self. "I've transitioned from 'reaction mode', responding to every email and Slack ping, to creating deliberate white‑space in my calendar," Ryan says. "Empowering the team to make autonomous decisions while I focus on big‑picture strategy has turned urgency into intentionality." One of his most radical resets? A weekly digital detox. "I've instituted a weekly 'creative fast': one full day without meetings or digital interruptions. That silence has sparked our best ideas yet, sharpened my strategic thinking, and given the team space to innovate without distraction." Across London, another kind of reset is underway - one rooted not in silence, but in technical immersion. "At Faculty, we're re-evaluating how we engage with the very frontiers of AI," says Dr Marc Warner, CEO and co-founder of the artificial intelligence firm. "Back in January, after a visit to San Francisco and subsequent reflections, it was clear that the AI landscape had shifted enough that we needed to re-educate ourselves." Warner and his Chief Technology Officer spent two intensive weeks revisiting the most cutting-edge models in AI. "That trip was transformational for how I spend my time and how we think about where to focus," he says. "While the outputs are still unfolding, the signal was clear: this is the moment to reset to spring forward." This wasn't just a tech refresh. It was a leadership awakening. "One of the biggest mindset shifts has been doubling down on aligning AI initiatives with core business priorities," Warner says. "After over a decade of building Faculty, we've learned that AI strategy should always be subservient to business strategy." He's wary of chasing shiny objects. "There's a real temptation to create a laundry list of possible AI applications, pick the easiest to execute, and hope something sticks – but that approach rarely delivers real impact," he explains. "Instead, what works is identifying the organisation's most important priorities and asking: where can AI truly accelerate these?" In Warner's case, recharging doesn't mean stepping back - it means diving deeper. "For me, recharging doesn't mean stepping away; it means leaning into the work that stretches and excites me," he says. "My reset at the beginning of this year - sitting side-by-side with our CTO, digging into the technology – was a prime example. It was energising and reminded me how important it is to carve out time for exploration, not just execution." But not everyone is using May to pause. For Kateryna Serdiuk, founder of digital art marketplace Subjektiv and former investment banker who once orchestrated $25b in equity transactions, the month is less about reflection and more about acceleration. "This month we're doing the opposite of slowing down. It's full steam ahead," she says. "We're laying foundations for what's next, putting time into product tweaks, new partnerships and customer growth." Her reset? Pre-empting logistical risk, especially in the increasingly complex US market. "We're taking a closer look at how our logistics work in the US," Serdiuk explains. "The tariff war means there's more uncertainty than usual, and rather than waiting for issues to arise, we'd rather pre-empt them." Subjektiv, built to simplify art acquisition for a new generation of collectors, depends on operational precision. "If friction creeps in, it affects the whole experience," she says. "Our strategy is solid. It's more about making sure the infrastructure can support what we're building, especially as we grow across new markets. The rest is working well, and we want to keep it that way." For Serdiuk, clarity comes not from stillness, but from execution. "Not a shift, but a strengthening," she says of her mid-year mindset. "If anything, the turbulence around us has made us more certain about what we're doing and why." And like her peers, she knows that success depends on more than ideas. "You can have the best idea in the world, but without the right people to help make it happen, it stays an idea," she says. "We're putting more attention into team culture, shared goals, and finding those who want to grow something meaningful together." Across the UK, another CEO is using May not just as a moment to reflect - but as a mandate to disrupt. "We transitioned to our unique cashback business model to deliver real, tangible value to our customers," says Cas Paton, CEO of the rapidly growing online marketplace. "This commitment drives us, especially at a time when people are feeling the effects of economic uncertainty." For Paton, May is about dialing up - not dialing down - OnBuy's impact. "We're intensifying our efforts to make sure that our rewards have a significant impact, while also challenging the norms in retail, finance, and traditional cashback industries." But that drive outward is matched by focus inward. "The current economic climate is a challenging one for business. It's at times like these that leadership takes on a whole new meaning," he says. "Teams need to feel stability and positivity in order to perform at their best. That's why we're not taking our foot off the accelerator." Paton's mid-year mindset? Momentum and clarity. "We're continuing apace with our bold international expansion plans and ensuring that all the exciting signals we're seeing about the success of our strategy are being fed through to our team." Even his recharge mode is strategic. "Juggling work and life is a challenge, but you have to get off the hamster wheel to be able to step back and plan," he says. "I try and absorb as much calm and family time as I can. It helps me to re-energise, so I can give my all to the success of OnBuy when I'm back at my desk." So while May may seem like a moment to coast, these four founders see it differently: as a pivot point - a strategic intermission before the pace intensifies again. Because whether it's making space for silent thinking, doubling down on technical learning, challenging market norms, or charging forward while others pause, the May Reset is not about stepping back. It's about choosing how - and where - to leap next.
