Insights From the Field: Resilience in Small Business and Leadership 

by Jane Veron

Resilience is the heartbeat of every thriving business. It propels entrepreneurs forward when the odds are stacked against them — and has fueled TAP’s growth and success as we continue to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing landscape.

Defining Resilience on the Frontlines

I am often asked: How did you get here? How do you stay here? My answer is that resilience is not a single skill. It is a practice built on mindset, discipline, compassion, and the courage to change course with intention and grit.

Since 2012, TAP has invested more than 62,500 hours supporting business owners, and each of those hours has revealed something new about resilience. Conversation by conversation, challenge by challenge, pivot by pivot, I have seen what resilience looks like in practice. Over the past year, I have reflected on the countless hours we have invested with small business owners and identified five lessons that shape not only how our clients survive but also how TAP thrives.

1) Mindset Drives Outcomes

Whether at work, in the field, or in my personal life, my mindset is simple: when you see a better path forward, take it boldly. Why do it timidly if you can do it decisively? Progress comes from acting with conviction, testing, and pivoting — not from staying still in front of a computer. You do, you learn, and you keep moving.

I have never been an incrementalizer. Big problems demand fast solutions. My approach has always been to pilot, to try, to see what works. Stop debating. Let’s try. That urgency to test and iterate has been key to how I lead and how TAP operates.

During COVID-19, while serving as Deputy Mayor of Scarsdale, I felt the urgent responsibility to act quickly so local businesses would not collapse. As medical professionals managed first-order problems, I worked around the clock to keep small businesses afloat, revising codes to permit outdoor dining, launching community tents, and authorizing sidewalk sales. Together, we brought the community back to life.

That same mindset fueled TAP’s rapid pivot in 2020. When our Spring Benefit was canceled, I doubled down and invested in TAP — hiring more staff when others were pulling back. We amped up our consultant team, bringing in CPAs and seasoned professionals to guide small business owners through PPP loans. Volunteers were more than willing to donate additional hours, and TAP’s Emergency Services program moved delivery online almost overnight, ultimately supporting more than 6,000 businesses nationwide.

The urgency of this kind of decisive action is even clearer today. According to the Small Business Readiness for Resiliency 2024 Impact Report published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation,  the United States experienced 27 billion-dollar disasters last year, with $182.7 billion in losses. It is not a matter of if disasters will strike, but when. Small businesses must be prepared — and act fast.

My grandmother, Judy Veron, embodied optimism and grit with her “sink or swim” philosophy. Her family ran a candy store, and as a young girl, she was in charge of refilling the jars. Later in life, she became a single mom with the untimely and tragic death of my grandfather. She chose to swim. From her, I learned that adversity can be met with character and determination — a conviction that no matter the challenge, optimism, hard work, and lifting others pave the way forward.

2) Ask for Help, Always

Resilience is never built alone. Help is everywhere when you choose to see it and take it seriously. I rely on councils, advisors and partners because asking for help is not a weakness; it is the foundation of growth.

We all have individual superpowers, but we also have limits, and wisdom comes from admitting what we like, what we dislike, and where we need support. I’ve found that when you are willing to acknowledge your weaknesses, you receive more help, and that humility not only deepens learning but also draws people in to contribute their strengths. Each time I immerse myself in boards and councils, I gain new insights and perspectives that sharpen my leadership. Human capital remains one of the most complicated yet powerful levers of success, and leaders must listen to what energizes and uplifts their teams so people can lean into what they love—because when individuals focus on their strengths, resilience multiplies.

The US SBA Investment Capital Advisory Committee 2024 Report echoes this lesson, emphasizing that small businesses thrive when there is greater awareness of capital programs, practical education, and collaboration across the public and private sectors. As a committee member and co-author of that report, I saw firsthand how resilience depends on cultivating networks of trust and aligning stakeholders at every level. This reinforces what we see at TAP every day: resilience multiplies when you ask for help, accept it, and build systems that draw strength from the collective.

3) Discipline and Data Matter

Discipline was instilled in me early. My parents emphasized education as the surest path to opportunity, and my grandmother’s tireless work ethic taught me perseverance. I learned that discipline is about committing to growth and staying true to core values.

As TAP has grown, I have come to understand how difficult it is to scale. Growth is never linear. You must look six months ahead, one year ahead, while energizing your team in the present. I know what it feels like to be resource-restrained. To make progress, we divided work into clear tasks with roles, responsibilities, and KPIs. When I first introduced this accountability, it was a cultural shock. But I had to put a stake in the ground. Over time, the team came to see measurement not as a burden but as empowering.

Resilience requires more than discipline — it requires systems. Sustainable momentum comes from tracking goals and KPIs that evolve with changing circumstances. At TAP, every team sets quarterly goals, which are tracked in dedicated software. Especially in 2025, with uncertainty everywhere, proactively anticipating change has been critical.

Metrics sustain momentum. Since 2012, this discipline has enabled us to:

• Deliver 62,500+ hours of consulting

• Support 10,000+ business owners in customized engagements

• Engage 2,400+ participants in workshops and webinars

• Empower 100,000+ individuals through content and resources

• Achieve a 93% business survival rate post-engagement

• Enable 91% job creation and preservation

• Earn a 95% client satisfaction rate

Every one of these numbers tells a story of persistence, adaptation, and impact. By insisting on disciplined measurement, we ensure that our efforts translate into outcomes that matter for business owners, their families, and their communities.

One example is Louis E. Page, Inc., a fourth-generation fencing distributor facing declining revenue, mounting debt, and no e-commerce presence. Through TAP’s Deep Dive program, we guided owner Debbie Page to streamline vendor contracts, pay down $17,000 in credit card debt, and invest in a new Shopify-powered site. These steps provided financial clarity, renewed confidence, and a growth path toward $5–8 million in revenue. Her story shows how resilience is built when strategy, data, and decisive action converge.

The SBA’s Business Resilience Guide reinforces this lesson: resilience is strongest when measurement is paired with preparation. Document critical business functions, safeguard resources, stress-test recovery strategies, and plan financially with reserves and insurance. To build resilience, you must educate yourself, make a plan, and measure it. Knowledge, preparation, and disciplined tracking ensure that small businesses are not only positioned to grow but also equipped to withstand the unexpected.

4) Innovation is a Daily Practice

Resilience also grows when we stay curious. At TAP, we constantly refine, experiment, and test — whether updating financial templates, piloting new marketing strategies, or embracing technology. Our programs are designed to be flexible and responsive, because innovation keeps us moving forward in uncertain times.

Recently, we launched TAP’s inaugural Beginner’s Guide to AI for Small Business virtual workshop — our very first step in equipping entrepreneurs with the tools to embrace this new frontier. Thirty-seven business owners joined the kickoff session, where we introduced AI fundamentals, prompt engineering, and privacy considerations. This launch marked the beginning of a larger effort: extending the same training to our consultant team as part of their professional development, ensuring they gain future-focused skills they can bring directly into client work.

Our AI initiative overall has amplified consultant efficiency and expanded the reach of our resources. By testing and adopting new tools, we deliver faster insights and provide scalable solutions that meet business owners where they are. Innovation at TAP is never for its own sake. It is about finding practical, creative ways to solve problems and open doors for entrepreneurs.

5) Culture of Compassion

Compassion is not softness. It is strength, and it is at the heart of resilience. At TAP, our consultants are consistently described as compassionate, and that is by design. We recruit, train, and support them to listen closely, understand lived experiences, and then act.

Research published in the Harvard Business Review reminds us why this distinction matters. Empathy and compassion are not the same. Empathy is taking on the feelings of others, sometimes to the point of overload. Compassion goes further — combining understanding with the willingness to act. Leaders who shift from empathy to compassion are better able to provide clear judgment and actionable support.

One way we strengthen understanding is through language. Our consultant cohort collectively speaks 22 languages in addition to English. This has been crucial for our model, allowing entrepreneurs to communicate in their native language and share their challenges with clarity. In turn, our consultants provide solutions that are not only technically correct but aligned with the lived realities of the business owner.

Compassion in action is exactly how we approach resilience at TAP. Listening is strategy, but listening alone is not enough. When entrepreneurs share their fears and barriers, our job is to turn that insight into solutions that ease their path forward. That shift from empathy to compassion allows small business owners to move from feeling heard to being helped.

I saw this in practice with Sedonia, a TAP client who was initially hesitant to admit how precarious her finances had become. Once she felt seen and supported, she opened up fully. That moment of trust allowed her consultants to step in with concrete guidance that set her on a new, sustainable trajectory.

Compassion also runs deep in my family history. My grandmother, who immigrated from Poland with very little, carried courage, optimism, and compassion for others. She modeled for me that resilience is not just persistence, but meeting people with character and heart. That legacy shapes the way I lead TAP and the way our teams engage with small business owners every day.

Resilience as Our Legacy

Resilience is contagious. Whether it comes from Sedonia, my grandmother, or a consultant working late to support a client, resilience inspires resilience.

It is not something you master. It is something you build, moment by moment, choice by choice. For me, it has been shaped by family history, the wisdom of networks, the discipline of data, and the compassion at TAP’s core.

At TAP, we know resilience is not a choice; it is the future of small businesses. That is why we invite funders, partners, and volunteers to join us in ensuring that every entrepreneur has the tools not just to survive the next crisis, but to grow stronger because of it. To learn more about partnering with us, visit theaccelerationproject.org