20% of Your Business Should Be on Fire

(And yes, that’s a good thing.)

Last week, Panther Industries' pallet plant in Davidson, Saskatchewan literally caught fire. Not figuratively. We're talking full-on smoke-billowing, sirens-blaring, sawdust-sparking combustion.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Turns out a few employees didn’t like the wind in their face while having a smoke, so they wandered over to the camera-free zone and lit up. Their cigarette butts sparked a blaze in a mountain of sawdust—the dry, fluffy kind that every woodworker has nightmares about.

Enter the local volunteer firefighters. Absolute legends. They showed up in ten minutes and held the line. Crisis averted. Sort of.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Panther has been a long-time client of mine and I have endless respect for the leadership team, including the President, Clayton Schneider.

While the fire was still burning, Clayton called a boardroom meeting. Yes, you read that right. Flames outside. Flipcharts inside.

The team got to work. They laid out a rough 90-day recovery roadmap—daily tasks, weekly goals, and strategic plays for the next three months.

No chaos. No blame. Just clarity.

That’s the thing about leaders like Clayton. They don’t wait for smoke to clear. They work through the fire. We’ve collaborated for years on strategy—zooming out, looking in, and building a culture that isn’t just about calm seas, but about steering through the storm.

And this fire? It was the crucible his team needed. A fresh acquisition in Edmonton had created cultural friction—but nothing bonds like a blaze. Literally.

And then? Something even wilder happened. Competitors called. But not to poach clients or rub salt in the burn.

They offered help. Gear. People. Spare wood. Why?

Because real leaders know: today it’s Clayton. Tomorrow, it’s them.

That’s community. That’s resilience. That’s values in action.

Casey Clark who founded Cultivate Advisors and Propel Your Business once told me:

It stuck with me. Because business isn’t a beach. It’s a bonfire. You carry the torch, not just for profits, but for people—for purpose, for your customers.

So yes, sometimes your business will be on fire.

Sometimes you’ll be on fire.

But if you’ve got a values-based plan, a crew that trusts you, and the courage to lead while the sparks fly?

Then the fire doesn’t destroy you.
It forges you.

You’ll walk through the fire and come out stronger.

We are built for hard: You don’t build resilience in the calm—you build it while the fire’s still burning.

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Adam Kreek founded ViDA to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.

Kreek is an Executive Business Coach who lives in Victoria, BC, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, USA, in the Pacific Northwest. He works with clients globally, often travelling to California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Georgia, Toronto, Ontario, Davidson, Saskatchewan and Montreal, Quebec. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a storied adventurer and a father.

He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen. 

Discover our thoughts on Values here.

Want to increase your leadership achievement? Learn more about ViDA Executive Business Coaching here.

Want to book a keynote that leaves a lasting impact? Learn more about Kreek’s live event service here.

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