It’s been a week of apologies in UK retail.
For many inside these organisations, this wasn’t just an IT story. It was a high-stress, high-stakes moment that likely disrupted routines, strained teams, and tested leadership under pressure.
If you tried to order from M&S recently and couldn’t, or noticed the Co-op cutting off parts of its IT network, you weren’t alone. Both were hit by what’s euphemistically called a “cyber incident.” Systems down. Fulfilment frozen. Shelves going bare.
A photo I took in Bayswater, London
But here’s what interests me most:
- Not what systems failed.
- What mindsets emerged in response.
Because every time a system crashes, a second event starts quietly:
How people react; emotionally, behaviourally, culturally.
And that’s where recoverability either begins or unravels.
” Resilience is a feeling before it’s a fact. “
That’s not a slogan. It’s an observation from the behavioural trenches.
In my recent piece, Resilience Is a Feeling Before It’s a Fact, I explored how the confidence to recover starts well before recovery begins. Confidence isn’t just a byproduct of success; it’s the precursor to resilience. And when things break, that emotional tone matters.
We often ask: Do we have the systems?
But I’d rather ask: Do we have the nerve?
Panic, blame, confusion: these are the real blockers. Not a missing patch. Not an outdated backup. But the human noise that floods the room when control slips.
” Recoverability is culture, not code. “
A breach isn’t just a technical crisis; it’s a behavioural test.
That’s the core of my follow-up, Recoverability Is Culture, Not Code. When your systems go offline, your culture comes online.
The fastest recoveries I’ve seen? They didn’t have the best tech.
The fastest recoveries I’ve seen didn’t have the best tech. They had:
- Psychological safety
- Clear leadership
- Rehearsed mess
They had teams who’d practised discomfort, not just policy.
If your team has never roleplayed failure, if they freeze, deflect, or blame, you’re not recovering, you’re performing a breakdown.
So while M&S and the Co-op will eventually get back online, what we don’t see is how their internal culture either helped or hindered that process. What tone was set? What permissions were given? What human behaviours were allowed to lead?
Because, in the end:
Recoverability is culture, not code. If you want to recover faster, build the kind of culture that’s already halfway there.
Until next Monday,
Sevgi
✉️ Share this edition with someone whose idea of “resilience” still lives in a dashboard.