If you ask most basketball fans or “ball knowers” in modern parlance about Jason Kidd, they’ll remember him as a nightly triple-double threat on the Suns. Some might remember him as the dynamic leader who led the Nets to multiple NBA Finals appearances. Many might recall his Rookie of the Year campaign in 1995. But as a diehard Mavs fan, my Jason Kidd is the changed man who helped propel Dallas to a championship in 2011. 

In his age-38 season, Kidd wasn’t the dominating presence he once was. But he became the player the Mavs needed him to be. Without his stabilizing presence, perimeter defense against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and reliable (often clutch) 3-point shooting, the Mavs don’t beat the Heat in the Finals. 

Kidd refused to let who he once was define who he needed to be. He refused to stagnate, and it won him the championship that had long eluded him. The dynamics of business leadership aren’t all that different. The best leaders, like elite athletes, can’t rely on what worked yesterday.

It’s a VUCA World

Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are ever-present threats leaders must understand and adapt to. A stable business is one that demonstrates adaptive resilience, maintaining operational consistency while proactively scanning the horizon for emerging threats and opportunities. 

Stability in this context reflects strategic agility—the ability to absorb shocks, recalibrate, and evolve without losing coherence. In contrast, a stagnant business may appear outwardly calm but lacks the internal dynamism to respond meaningfully to VUCA conditions. It resists change, clings to legacy models, and misinterprets predictability as a sign of strength. Harvard’s application of VUCA to business strategy underscores that in today’s environment, stability must be earned through continuous learning and strategic foresight, whereas stagnation is often the quiet precursor to irrelevance.

That same thinking applies beyond the boardroom. The principle of strategic agility—anticipating change and adapting without losing focus—is what separates lasting success from short-lived dominance, whether you’re leading a company or a team.

Jason Kidd didn’t thrive because the game slowed down for him; he thrived because he learned how to read volatility, adapt to uncertainty, and stay effective amid complexity. That’s the essence of strategic agility in a VUCA world.

The Warning Signs of Stagnation

Too many business leaders fail to recognize when stability turns into stagnation. They often talk about stability as if it’s the ultimate goal. Their reward for years of growth, risk, and hard work. However, if the cost of your stability is complacency, it can be a misleading calm before the storm. Leaders who allow stability to be their company’s defining feature for too long risk losing out on growth opportunities. 

There’s a world in which Jason Kidd was insistent upon playing the game that made him a Hall of Famer. He could have spent 2011 putting up modest stat lines that recalled past glory, but didn’t help the team. Fortunately for me, in this world, he recognized that he wasn’t going to win as the slashing creator he used to be. So, he adapted his game and became the oldest point guard ever to lead his team to a championship.

Staying satisfied with stability makes a company vulnerable to sameness and staleness, both of which lead to stagnation and being outperformed by competitors who break out of the status quo.

When I talk about true stability, it means being solid, steady, and capable of withstanding a storm and adapting to change. But if your idea of stability is constant performance stuck at the same level year after year, your company is not stable. It is stagnant, and in business, that can lead to decline, sometimes steep and fast.

Stability is marked by factors such as predictable, efficient, risk-managed daily operations, strong financial performance, high employee engagement, and customer satisfaction. But when stagnation starts to take over, here’s what it looks like:

• A lack of innovation — The business is stuck in old ideas, and leadership isn’t considering new ones. People have reached a collective comfort level and are reluctant to leave their comfort zone to make necessary changes.
• Flat or declining metrics — The company may still be performing well financially, but certain key performance indicators are showing little growth.
• Decreasing employee engagement, increasing turnover — Worsening morale, ineffective leadership, and a lack of growth opportunities cause more high-performing employees to leave.
• Reduced customer engagement — Increasing customer complaints and falling demand as they see competitors providing more value with upgraded products and services.

Think about Jason Kidd early in his career. His elite passing, defense, and court vision made him one of the best point guards in the league. For years, that version of his game represented reliability — the basketball equivalent of a company’s tried-and-true process. But as the NBA evolved toward perimeter shooting and spacing, that foundation was no longer enough.

If Kidd had clung to what once worked, he would have slowly lost his edge to younger, more adaptable players. Instead, he understood that the game—like business—was changing around him. By improving his three-point shooting and expanding his offensive range, he stayed relevant, elevated his team, and extended his career. What could have been stagnation became renewed strength because he refused to mistake consistency for progress.

The Antidote to Stagnation: Perpetual Focus on Improvement

Stable businesses study their own performance and make thoughtful adjustments before problems take root.

A company that stops improving has already begun to fall behind. The market doesn’t pause, and your competitors won’t stand still. Technology advances, consumer preferences evolve, and even the way people buy and communicate changes faster than ever.

If you’re not establishing new goals, not perpetually focusing on improvements, and not consistently advancing in some way—whether that’s through new products, new services, geographic expansion, improved technology, or better customer experience—you’re losing ground and stagnating. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s slow erosion—a loss of energy, initiative, and relevance. And before you realize it, what once looked like stability has become a cliff.

Once you recognize stagnation, try not to overcorrect. The instinct can be an overhaul to achieve immediate and maximal relevance. However, avoiding stagnation means evolving intelligently, rather than overreacting to every new trend. It means continuously improving in ways that matter. You don’t have to make major changes every year, like expanding your geographical footprint or acquiring another company. You may need to make smaller but significant changes, such as improving your customer experience. Making progress requires openness and commitment throughout the company to consider and embrace change. Every business, large or small, needs to maintain a cycle of reflection and renewal.

Like Kidd gradually expanding his range and applying his old skills in new ways, businesses don’t need radical reinvention every season. In my experience, focused, meaningful improvement in the areas that matter most is enough to maintain progress.

Consider these actions to break out of stagnation and make improvements:

• Ask tough questions — What have we improved in the last year? What’s the last significant change we made that tangibly advanced the company? What’s holding us back? How are we defining our next phase of growth? Are we reacting to change or shaping it?
• Encourage a culture that challenges the status quo — That means not being afraid to fail, aiming high on projects, and supporting people who have the courage to get out of their comfort zone.
• Monitor and reevaluate — Reaching a goal with a new idea doesn’t mean it will work forever. Staying competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace requires making adjustments or wholesale changes earlier than initially expected. It also requires resilient teams that are built to adapt.

Lessons from Jason Kidd: Reinventing to Stay Relevant

If you can’t tell by now, I’m fascinated by Jason Kidd’s evolution as a player. I think it offers a powerful lesson in continuous improvement. 

Early in his career, Kidd was known for his elite defense, passing, and leadership. His shooting, however, was a real weakness. Through his first ten seasons, he shot just 32.6% from three-point range. That was an acceptable rate during the basket-attacking era of the late 1990s and early 2000s NBA. 

Gradually, though, the league shifted toward perimeter shooting and spacing. In response, Kidd reinvented his game. During his tenure with Dallas, he shot 39.7% from deep and attempted nearly five threes per game. He didn’t become Steph Curry, but he turned himself into enough of a threat that defenses were forced to respect his range, opening the key for Dirk Nowitzki’s midrange game, and creating lanes for Jason Terry and JJ Barea. 

By facing change head-on, Kidd led his team to the 2011 NBA Championship. In Game 5 of the Finals, he hit 3 of 5 from beyond the arc on his way to posting a +43 plus-minus across the final three games. To me, Kidd’s evolution is proof that adaptability and strategic agility drive lasting success. The lesson for resilient companies is to stay competitive by scanning the environment, embracing new skills, and thriving amid volatility.

Make Stability Your Foundation for Persistent Growth

There’s a clear line between stability (a foundation for resilience) and stagnation (a plateau that leads to decay). Businesses must continually evolve to remain truly stable and competitive.

Genuine stability demands the continual mastery of VUCA. It’s about cultivating an organization that can absorb disruption, evolve through it, and emerge stronger.

Stagnation, on the other hand, hides behind the illusion of steadiness. It feels safe. But it’s really the beginning of a decline.

Jason Kidd’s late-career transformation is a lesson in strategic agility, demonstrating that mastery of change is a constantly moving target, one we can never hit by staying where we are. 

The most successful leaders I’ve known share that same mindset. They never stop asking, “What’s next?” because they understand that real stability is earned through constant reinvention.

When you embrace that mindset, you stay relevant, resilient, and ready for whatever comes next.