Mars Fails to Deliver on Spring Promises
Instead of blossoms, we have missiles. Instead of renewal, the tectonic plates are awakening, and with them, the price of Brent oil is soaring, exceeding $120, and dragging energy, freight, fertilizers, and food prices along with it. The world had not yet recovered from the successive shocks - pandemic, Ukraine, inflation - when a new geopolitical earthquake threatens to undo years of painstaking reconstruction.
The Impact on Tunisia
For Tunisia, the shock is first and foremost budgetary. A barrel of oil priced at $63 in the finance law, and now the energy bill is exploding, compensation is increasing, and foreign exchange is becoming scarce. The dilemma is cruel: the budgetary margin for maneuver is almost non-existent, and it is not reasonable to ask companies, already drained by the conjunctural contributions of recent years, to absorb an additional shock.
The Consequences of Imported Inflation
Imported inflation, amplified by the explosion of transportation and logistics costs, is eroding an already fragile purchasing power. And when the consumer is exhausted, it is the companies' turnover that suffers first. Should we freeze in response? The history of major oil shocks in 1973, 1979, and 1990 teaches us one thing: duration is just as important as the peak. A brief shock is painful, but it can be absorbed. It is the scenario of prolonged scarcity that really disrupts markets, and it is the companies that have secured their critical supplies, renegotiated their logistics contracts, and embarked on their energy transition that will come out on top. Energy efficiency and renewables are no longer a reasonable option; they are now a condition of survival.
The Importance of Managerial Courage
But beyond the conjunctural shock, there is another lesson that this context imposes, and it may be the most decisive. In the fog of geopolitical and technological uncertainty, many leaders hesitate, retreat, and wait for the chaos to pass. However, research is formal, and the adage remains true: luck favors the bold. Managerial courage is not an innate character trait reserved for a few. It is a skill that can be developed, structured, and cultivated through small steps, by building trust, activating connections, and preserving attention. This is precisely what Dorsaf Bejaoui, CEO of Sofrecom Tunisia, who embodies assertive and controlled leadership in this issue, illustrates: she does not wait for the waters to calm down to navigate, but learns to read the currents.
The True Meaning of Leadership
Our dossier explores this conviction: in times of turbulence, true leadership is not measured by the authority one projects outward, but by the mastery one builds within oneself, one's organization, and one's decisions. And because these periods of disruption reveal both weaknesses and talents, we have chosen to integrate the dimension of gender. Not out of militancy, but out of pragmatism: women leaders who navigate these troubled waters often do so with a more refined inner compass, forged by having to prove themselves twice as much.
The Key to Managerial Courage
Our dossier draws concrete conclusions: managerial courage is built through a solid internal narrative, trust cultivated daily, connections activated with intention, and the rare and precious ability to preserve one's attention when everything conspires to disperse it. Value is no longer created solely by performance; it is created by trust in oneself, one's teams, and one's organization. This is the only true capital that resists shocks. Happy reading!
