Warren Buffet, in the most perilous of economic times, used to say “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Terrifying stuff, the thought of seeing Warren Buffett naked. But I think he meant to infer he was clothed. And that people didn’t really prepare for the down times. Anyway. Underneath the maelstrom and devastation of the national, international and political news cycle three stories this week from the world of tech jumped out:

• Elon Musk wants everyone back in the office
• Sheryl Sandberg is leaving Meta (Facebook) after 14 years at the company
• Fidelity lowered private holding valuations for Bytedance, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe

In short, change is afoot. I am not here to debate the merits of remote vs. in office work, executive shuffles, or valuation compression. But it does feel like a time of transition doesn’t it? On the heels of the great resignation we’re in the middle of a business cycle shift. Some want to go back to the before times. Others are hanging up their laptops (?) And the days of chasing a quick high flying exit are, well, compressed.

I think we’ll see more departures, strategy shifts, and companies plainly putting their heads down to invest amid a cooler fundraising environment to weather this recessionary period.

It gives us managers an interesting seat. Do you like where you are? Are you willing to stay for the next 2+ years to work on the mission at hand in leaner times? If that exit isn’t so clearly around the corner are you willing to work for the experience of it? That’s an interesting question that maybe more of us should have been asking these past few years.

Interesting times indeed. The wheel keeps on turning!