Walking Into Burning Buildings (#3/3)
Part three of three exploring why business leaders can't ask for help, what crisis makes possible, and the work of supporting people through both
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Here's the problem with being the person who walks into burning buildings: the people inside don't want you there.
They're standing in the flames, eyes closed, trying to convince themselves it's just warm in here, because their entire identity depends on appearing successful. I'm walking in uninvited, telling them the building is fucked and this might be the best thing that ever happened to them.
From their perspective, I'm not help. I'm another problem.
Most business turnaround work fails because consultants arrive with spreadsheets and recovery strategies that make perfect logical sense, then watch leaders nod and agree and do absolutely nothing. The consultant blames the leader for lack of commitment. But the leader is trapped by conditioning that makes asking for help feel like signing a confession of failure. Their ego won't let them execute the obvious solution because executing it would mean admitting the performance was a lie.
You cannot fix this with better strategy documents.
The building has to become so obviously on fire that continuing the performance costs more than admitting the truth. Before that moment, they're not ready. After that moment, when the ego gets demolished and the performance becomes impossible, they're capable of genuine transformation.
This is why my work has changed. I used to focus exclusively on businesses that could be saved. But that excludes the people who need support most: leaders whose businesses are beyond saving but who still need someone to stand with them through the crisis. The transformation work matters whether the business survives or not.
What this actually requires
I don't arrive with cheerful optimism. I don't pretend the fire isn't real. I don't try to pull people out before they're ready.
I tell them the truth: the building is fucked, the performance isn't working anymore, this is going to be the worst experience of their life for a while. But something else becomes possible on the other side.
Doing this requires three things that rarely exist together:
Technical rigour. I can read the numbers and tell you whether the business is saveable. I know when you're past viability: the cash flow path is impossible without throwing good money after bad, the ruthless decisions would destroy the business anyway, the market fundamentals aren't there even if you get through this brutal period. Leaders need honest assessment, not false hope.
Crisis experience. I've been through this multiple times, with my own businesses and with other people's. I've performed success myself while dying inside. I've lied to friends and family while calculating which creditors to pay first. I've stood in burning buildings trying to convince myself everything was fine. I know what this feels like from the inside, which means I can recognise when someone's still performing versus when they're ready to stop.
Emotional capability. Samaritans training taught me how to sit with people in crisis without trying to fix them or rescue them or convince them everything will be fine. How to create space for them to find their own clarity rather than imposing mine. How to recognise when someone's in danger of complete collapse versus when they're going through the necessary demolition that makes transformation possible.
Most turnaround consultants can read financials. Some have lived through crisis. Almost none can sit with someone whose identity is dissolving and help them not waste what that creates. Conversely, good coaches have the emotional capability but not the technical rigour to know when the business is actually saveable versus when you're throwing good money after bad.
What the work actually looks like
When someone's business is still viable and they're ready to stop performing: I fix what's broken in the business (cash flow, creditor negotiation, operational restructuring) and I fix what's broken in the leader that's been preventing them from fixing the business (the shame, the performance, the inability to have difficult conversations).
When someone's business is beyond saving: I tell them clearly it can't be saved and what administration will look like. I stand with them while the business dies. I help them not waste what the crisis makes possible - the ego demolition that creates humility, the clarity about what actually matters, the authenticity that comes from stripping away the performance, the opportunity to build something aligned with who they actually are rather than who they've been pretending to be.
Why I do this when people can't pay
I went through multiple crises that should have destroyed me. Business collapse, identity dissolution, the complete demolition of who I thought I was. Each time I was certain I'd ruined everything.
One man walked into the burning building with me. He didn't try to pull me out before I was ready. He didn't pretend the fire wasn't real. He didn't offer false hope or premature rescue. He just stood there and told me the truth: this is awful, and it's real, and you'll get through it, and something else becomes possible on the other side.
He held the tension between honest acknowledgment of how bad it was and genuine belief that transformation was possible. He taught me that crisis doesn't have to destroy you if someone's willing to stand with you while you burn.
I wouldn't have made it through without him. The technical capability I had - CFA training, financial expertise, understanding the numbers - meant nothing when my ego was protecting me from truth and my performance had become my identity. What saved me was having someone who could sit with me while my identity dissolved and help me not waste what that demolition created.
Now I've got the capability to be that person for others. The technical rigour to tell them honestly whether their business can be saved. The crisis experience to recognise when they're still performing versus ready to stop. The emotional training to sit with them while their ego gets demolished without trying to fix them or flee from them.
So when someone's business is dying and they can't pay, I do the work anyway. Not as charity, but as repayment of a debt I can never fully repay. Someone stood with me when I had nothing left. Now I stand with others.
What makes this difficult
Crisis as gift only makes sense in retrospect. While you're in it, it's just crisis. So the work isn't about convincing people crisis is good while they're burning. It's about standing there and telling them: this is awful, and it's real, and you'll get through it, and something else becomes possible on the other side.
Honest acknowledgment that it's as bad as it feels, combined with genuine belief that transformation is possible, without pretending those two things don't contradict each other emotionally.
Most people trying to help can't hold that tension. They either minimise the crisis or catastrophise it. Neither is useful.
Who this is for
Business leaders facing crisis who know something fundamental has to change. Leaders whose businesses might be saveable if they can stop performing. Leaders whose businesses are beyond saving but who need support through the transition.
IPs, accountants, solicitors, bankers, equity investors dealing with businesses in distress who recognise their clients need support they're not equipped to provide.
Anyone who understands that business crisis is also human crisis, and that addressing one without addressing the other is why most turnaround work fails.
What happens next
If you're in crisis, or you know someone who is, let's talk.
If you work with businesses in distress and need someone who can handle both the technical problems and the emotional paralysis underneath, let's build a relationship. I'm creating a network across the South West and beyond of people who understand crisis work requires more than spreadsheets.
The building's on fire. I'm the person who walks in. Everyone else is standing outside.
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I work with SME leaders navigating crisis and transformation. I spent twelve years running a manufacturing business through multiple near-death experiences before achieving an exit in 2024, and now I combine financial rigour, lived crisis experience, and coaching capability to support business leaders through the moments when everything's on fire. I'm based in Bath and you can contact me at marc@marcdrichard.com or through the contacts page on this website.