When Silence Becomes Strategy – Why Listening Is Leadership in a Volatile World

Monday in Brussels, you're praised for green investments. Wednesday in Washington, you're attacked for “woke activism”. By Friday in Beijing, you’re hit with new import restrictions. That’s a regular week for global companies today. What used to be background noise has become the condition of doing business.

So the question for leaders is brutally simple: what do you do when the rules shift faster than you can adapt?

Back in 1970, economist Albert O. Hirschman described three classic responses to institutional pressure: exit, voice, and loyalty. You can leave the market. You can speak up. Or you can comply to maintain access.

We’ve seen them all. Carlsberg exited Russia. Tesla makes noise in U.S. politics. Apple complies with Chinese data laws. But each path is risky – and costly. What happens when none of these offer the right balance between principles, market presence, and long-term survival?

In Harvard Business Review, Christopher Marquis offers a fourth option: strategic hibernation. That is, reducing visibility and tone without retreating – protecting core assets, research, and relationships while the storm passes.

It’s a useful idea, but the metaphor fails. Hibernation implies inactivity, waiting under the covers for spring. But real strategy isn’t passive. It takes discipline to read the landscape, shield your value, and prepare for the next move.

A better frame? Strategic listening. Not a retreat, but a deliberate, attentive stance. You don’t shout – but you don’t disappear. You observe, hold your ground, and choose your words with care.

Several Danish companies already demonstrate how this works in practice:

· Novo Nordisk is in the crosshairs of the U.S. drug pricing debate. Instead of launching a PR offensive, they’ve quietly adjusted pricing, built partnerships, and stayed compliant – while maintaining research and global expansion.

· Mærsk exited Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, but preserved alliances, logistics strength, and critical assets – ready to redirect and reallocate at speed.

· Ørsted has faced political setbacks in the U.S. offshore wind sector. Their response? Scale down, preserve projects in minimal form, and wait for regulatory stability.

· Arla, repeatedly caught in Middle East boycotts, keeps a minimal presence in volatile markets – ready to ramp up again when conditions improve.

What these examples share is not silence, but precision. Not inaction, but preparedness. A listening stance is a long-term investment in relevance.

It demands three things:

1. Preserve your core – talent, tech, IP, relationships.

2. Tune into signals – political shifts, stakeholder sentiment, market undercurrents.

3. Communicate carefully – enough to maintain trust, but never to box yourself in.

It sounds simple. But it takes restraint. Silence is often mistaken for weakness. Noise for strength. The art lies in being quiet – without being irrelevant.

Because when the dust settles, it’s rarely the loudest voices that win. It’s the ones who kept their bearings, read the room – and were ready for the next move.