Simple Present or Present Continuous

Our conversations made it clear that resilient organizations go hand in hand with resilient leaders. Personal resilience (...) , comfort with short planning horizons, and agility necessary to support a team through rapidly evolving challenges.

• enables the quick decision-making

• is enabling the quick decision-making

Now I know what to do if there’s an invasion, and I’ve set up everything I can for my business and my family in case I’m not here tomorrow. My list of contingency plans got longer, and I (...) how to react to these risks.

• understand better

• am understanding better

My list of contingency plans got longer, and I understand better how to react to these risks. We all do. And, well, if a zombie apocalypse (...), I think we’d be a lot more ready for it than before.

• comes

• is coming

As the world (...) , we wanted to understand how businesses in Ukraine have navigated the last year. To that end, we conducted in-depth interviews with a diverse group of 10 Ukrainian managers and executives, representing industries including recruiting, IT, education, venture capital, health and fitness, agriculture, and oil and gas.

• marks the one-year anniversary of the invasion

• is marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion

The leaders we interviewed described a variety of coping mechanisms to help them recover from the trauma wrought by the war and fulfill their responsibilities to their employees, from openly sharing their feelings with their teams to carving out time for hobbies and friends to intentionally focusing on humor and optimism.

Nowadays, we call it “war-life balance” — when missiles (...) .

• fly overhead

• are flying overhead

Nowadays, we call it “war-life balance” — when missiles are flying overhead; people (...) , basements, and bathrooms; we have no power, no internet; schools are closed, so kids are with us at home…the stress and anxiety are intense.

• are working from bomb shelters

• work from bomb shelters

Of course, there were moments that were emotionally devastating. I had a colleague who lost her father in the war. Others had close relatives who were captured in the occupied territories. One has a brother who’s been imprisoned for six months with no word on where he (...) or when he may be released.

• is

• is being

We all understand that we have a professional army, and in the current situation, they (...). So we have to do our job, here. Once my team and I understood this, we became more focused, more driven to find creative ways to help the founders we work with and adapt our programs to meet new demand.

• are doing a great job

• do a great job

These days, we (...) about their experiences that lead to the midst of war, the challenges they faced, and the lessons they learned. Their stories — translated and edited for clarity — follow and shed light on several common themes.

• ask them

• are asking them

At the same time, the leaders we spoke with also noted the limits of empathy. Many reflected that unless they went through a similar experience themselves, they could never fully understand someone who had lost a home or a loved one.

You know, most of the time, when I (...) , I don’t just talk about work.

• talk to my colleagues

• am talking to my colleagues