It Is What It Is — Or Is It?

I’ve heard mixed reactions to the phrase, “It is what it is.”

For some, it’s a throwaway line, a verbal shrug that signals a closed mindset, apathy, or quiet resignation. In leadership contexts, that interpretation can be particularly dangerous. It can subtly shape a culture of we tried, it didn’t work, so why bother trying again?

Yet the phrase doesn’t have to end the conversation.

When treated as a moment of clarity rather than surrender, “it is what it is” can mark the starting point for renewed effort. It can be an honest acknowledgement of reality followed immediately by learning, adaptation, and strategic intent. Used this way, it becomes a moment of advantage.

In business, it’s rare for the first attempt at something new to unfold exactly as imagined. Markets shift. Assumptions prove flawed. External forces intervene. The same is true in life, when something less than optimal occurs that simply cannot be changed.

Which raises the more useful question: what do we do now?

Effective leaders recognise this moment as the point to pivot, not to persist blindly with a failing agenda, nor to abandon effort altogether. It’s a fine balance between pushing through short-term resistance and knowing when sunk-cost bias (Warrell, 2015) is driving further investment of time, energy, and credibility without return.

At an organisational level, the trigger may be a regulatory change, an economic shock, or a strategic assumption that no longer holds. External forces continually reshape the environments in which we operate. Creating a credible Plan B often starts with a disciplined post-mortem: what worked, what didn’t, and why? Was the issue a fixable gap in execution, or does it require revisiting the fundamentals, perhaps even a fresh TOWS analysis? (Kowalik & Klimecka-Tatar, 2017)

The same principles apply in life more broadly. Job loss. A health scare. An unexpected personal setback. While the event itself may be outside your control, your response rarely is. Effort, mindset, and the willingness to pivot remain firmly within reach.

Successful leaders and resilient individuals tend to share one trait: they rarely stop at Plan A. They move to Plan B, then C, then D if needed, adapting until they find a path around the immovable force that disrupted their original trajectory.

So perhaps “it is what it is” isn’t the end of ambition.

Maybe it’s the moment ambition gets smarter.

Do you have a Plan B?

Get in touch to explore how Ductus Consilio can support your strategy development