JEFF MAYFIELD
AUTHOR
Business & Leadership
Writing about business cycles, financial resilience, leadership, and the decisions that shape organizations through change
Business decisions rarely stand alone. Pricing affects margins and cash. Economic conditions alter demand and risk. Leadership and culture influence how quickly an organization recognizes change and responds.
My Business & Leadership writing examines these relationships from the perspective of more than three decades in accounting, finance, manufacturing, and executive leadership. The focus is practical: understand what is changing, recognize the risks and opportunities, and make disciplined decisions that strengthen the organization now and for the longer term.
What I Write About
The subjects I write about are interconnected. Economic conditions affect demand, pricing, costs, cash flow, investment, labor, and risk. Leadership decisions shape how organizations understand those changes and respond. My writing examines both the pressures businesses face and the practical ways leaders can prepare, adapt, and build resilience.
Business Cycles & Economic Change
Business cycles create different opportunities, risks, and leadership demands as conditions move through Expansion, Peak, Contraction, and Trough. I write about recognizing those changes and using an understanding of the business cycle to make better decisions about growth, hiring, pricing, debt, investment, cash flow, capacity, and strategic timing. The objective is not perfect prediction. It is preparing earlier and responding.
Financial Resilience, Pricing & Cash Flow
Financial resilience gives leaders more options when conditions become difficult. I write about pricing and margins, cost structure, cash flow, working capital, debt, liquidity, capital investment, customer concentration, and the financial assumptions behind business decisions. The focus is on strengthening financial visibility and discipline before pressure rises so leaders can protect cash, preserve flexibility, and make decisions from preparation rather than crisis.
Inflation, Interest Rates & Financial Strategy
Inflation and changing interest rates can pressure a business from several directions at once. Costs rise. Borrowing becomes more expensive. Margins can tighten, customer demand can change, and investment decisions become more difficult. I write about how leaders can respond through better forecasting, pricing discipline, cost management, debt and liquidity planning, and careful investment decisions while protecting customer trust and the organization’s ability to grow.
Risk, Resilience & Decision-Making
Risk rarely arrives in isolation. Financial pressure, customer concentration, supplier problems, technology failures, regulatory changes, market volatility, and labor shortages can combine in ways that quickly reduce a company’s options. I write about identifying vulnerabilities, understanding which risks leaders can control and which they must prepare to absorb, preserving flexibility, and making disciplined decisions before disruption becomes crisis.
Government, Geopolitical & Market Disruptions
Businesses can be affected by forces they neither create nor control. Government policy, regulation, tariffs, sanctions, geopolitical conflict, energy shocks, and financial-market instability can rapidly change costs, demand, financing, sourcing, and operating conditions. I write about how leaders can evaluate their exposure, prepare contingencies, protect liquidity and critical operations, communicate through uncertainty, and adjust when external events change the business environment.
Supply Chains, Labor & External Dependencies
A business can appear strong while depending heavily on suppliers, transportation networks, key employees, specialized skills, technology, or a small number of customers and markets. I write about identifying critical dependencies, strengthening supply chains, developing workforce capability, improving contingency planning, and reducing fragility without sacrificing efficiency or customer trust.
Leadership & Organizational Resilience
Organizations respond to uncertainty through people. Leadership, culture, communication, accountability, trust, and the ability to make decisions influence whether a company recognizes change early and responds effectively. I write about building resilient organizations through clear leadership, empowered teams, honest communication, disciplined decision-making, and cultures that can adapt under pressure without losing accountability or direction.
Operational Excellence, Technology & Digital Transformation
Operational strength requires more than efficiency. I write about continuous improvement, Lean thinking, Six Sigma, quality, productivity, automation, technology, artificial intelligence, and the changing relationship between people and machines. The focus is on using technology and operational improvement to strengthen capability, quality, customer value, and adaptability without chasing technology for its own sake or leaving people and sound judgment behind.
Strategy, Scenario Planning & Long-Term Adaptability
Strategy requires leaders to make choices before the future is certain. I write about strategic planning, scenario analysis, risk assessment, decision triggers, contingency planning, and the balance between short-term response and long-term direction. The objective is not to predict every disruption. It is to build organizations that recognize changing conditions, preserve options, adapt deliberately, and act before circumstances force the decision.
My articles and books are developed together. Individual articles allow me to examine specific leadership, economic, financial, operational, and organizational questions, while the developing book series brings those subjects into a broader framework
Books in Development
I am developing a four-book Business & Leadership series, Thriving Through the Storm, to help leaders understand changing conditions, prepare before disruption becomes crisis, and build organizations that can respond with greater clarity, discipline, and resilience.
The first book focuses on strategic thinking and the business cycle: Expansion, Peak, Contraction, and Trough. It examines the leadership, financial, operational, and strategic decisions each phase demands and how leaders can recognize changing conditions earlier, avoid characteristic mistakes, and act before circumstances narrow their choices.
The second book examines major disruptions in economic and business history and the lessons they provide for leaders facing events outside normal business-cycle patterns. These include financial crises, energy shocks, pandemics, governmental actions, geopolitical threats, and market disruptions that can rapidly change the environment in which businesses operate.
The third book examines recurring and emerging challenges that can pressure businesses across many economic conditions, including inflation, interest rates, supply chains, labor markets, technology, and other forces that reshape costs, risk, competition, and operating decisions.
The fourth book focuses on building lasting organizational resilience through stronger financial capability, risk management, scenario planning, revenue diversification, technology readiness, adaptability, and leadership systems. The goal is to help organizations develop the disciplines they need before the next disruption arrives.
Each book combines historical and business case studies with practical strategies leaders can apply. The goal is not simply to explain uncertainty. It is to help executives, owners, and leadership teams understand what is changing, decide what to do about it, and build stronger organizations for the conditions ahead.
ANOTHER BOOK PROJECT
Jeff is also developing Brine, Bird and Basin, a book and visual storytelling project exploring Great Salt Lake through research, writing, photography, and art. The project examines the relationships among the lake, wildlife, water, landscape, communities, and the challenges and opportunities surrounding its shared future.
Sincerely,
Jeff Mayfield