Why bold enterprise-wide responses to disruption outperform incremental change
Our inaugural Adaptability Pulse Survey, surveying 1,120 executives, reveals that, while companies are making changes in response to evolving dynamics, many are caught in a cycle of reaction rather than reinvention.
2026 KPMG Adaptability Pulse Survey
Data-driven insights for achieving adaptability at scale.
Jimmy Chin, elite mountain athlete and award winning filmmaker, operates where adaptability isn’t optional. In his world, you can’t control conditions. You train for them, narrow the options, and act before the window of opportunity closes. KPMG brings the same clarity to business disruption. We’ve partnered with Jimmy, using the broad scale and inherent risks of his world to illustrate the challenges and triumphs of decisive business leadership. In the video, you’ll hear how preparation, “decluttering,” and committed execution translate into real advantage.
Disruption is the new baseline. Across virtually every industry, leaders are under pressure, with 81% of corporate boards raising expectations for decisive adaptability and execution.1 The inaugural KPMG Adaptability Index, and the ongoing Adaptability Pulse Surveys, are designed to surface the characteristics that make organizations adaptive amid uncertainty and highlight specific actions that drive success.
Our Adaptability Pulse Survey reveals how, when it matters most, effective leaders focus on the following three interconnected strategies to turn disruption into advantage.
1 | Bolder moves have greater impact
When faced with disruption, many organizations are stuck in a reactive mode. This means that companies are less likely to act on their own strategic terms than to react to external pressure. Even in areas where leaders report the strongest proactive responses (such as innovation and customer experience), organizations average a net proactivity score of just +12.5 out of a possible +100 across eight critical disruption response areas, representing only 13 percent of the theoretical maximum. Net proactivity score is measured by the number of leaders that said they respond to disruption proactively vs. those that response reactively.
Addressing this disparity can have measurable benefits. Data looking at company performance during the Covid-19 pandemic shows that returns from proactivity improved when coupled with coordinated, ambitious execution, yielded 4.4 times higher shareholder returns and three times higher revenue growth.
Only 13%
net proactivity across disruption response areas, and yet...
(Average score: +12.5 out of +100)
4.4x
higher shareholder returns can be realized with a proactive approach³
3 | Tap into partner ecosystems
Most leaders don’t lack for good ideas. The difference comes down to focusing on fewer, bigger bets and investing in the execution to make it happen.
Atif Zaim
US Deputy Chair and Managing Principal
The data is clear: incremental responses to disruption are apt to fall short; reactive postures are hindering innovation; and trying to respond to disruption alone can stand in the way of a sustainable value. To navigate disruption with greater clarity and effectiveness, read our Adaptability Pulse Survey to learn key strategies and insights that can empower you to move from reacting to disruption to strategically navigating through it.
Read the full survey to understand how leading organizations build adaptability, improve execution success, and navigate disruption with confidence.
New KPMG Adaptability research explores how organizations can move beyond reacting to disruption and build the capabilities needed to perform through ongoing uncertainty. At the center of the campaign is The KPMG Adaptability Index, a data-driven framework that points to balanced efforts across an organization's culture, strategy, and broader ecosystem of partnerships, alongside efforts to build structural readiness as the most effective approach to building adaptability. Complementing the Index, the KPMG quarterly Adaptability Pulse Surveys assess how organizations are responding to pressure, including the degree of proactivity behind those actions and the results they deliver.
Reach out to learn more about how KPMG can help your organization be more adaptive in the face of disruption.
