April 5th. Happy New Tax Year.

New tax year, new rules of the game. So what must British businesses get right in 2025

April 5th is more than just a line in the financial calendar. It’s a moment. A natural punctuation mark. A line in the sand that gives British business leaders the chance to stop, take stock and ask the big question: Are we truly ready for the next 12 months?

Let’s be honest, we are entering a complicated, high-stakes year. Global headwinds are picking up. Markets are jumpy, and with Trump’s return to power tariffs and trade disruptions could become all too regular headlines; they might hit your margins, supply chains or both. Add in a volatile domestic landscape, tighter consumer spending and wobbly productivity figures across the UK, and you’ve got a cocktail that could drown or overwhelm the unprepared.

So, what can we do about it?

Firstly, lets stop chasing certainty. The truth is, 2025 is not going to be a year of predictable outcomes. It will favour the bold, the agile and the well-prepared. If you’re waiting for stability before you act, you’ve already lost ground. Success this year won’t come from playing safe in my view, it’ll come from making smarter, braver moves in the areas that count most.

British businesses must focus on three things this year: performance, priorities, and people.

Performance means more than turning a profit. It means ruthless clarity on what’s working and what’s wasting time. There’s no room now for fuzzy KPIs or bloated middle management layers. Look at your processes, your customer experience, your speed to market - and cut out the crap - if anything’s slowing you down, strip it out or fix it. You need a business engine that runs lean, clean and sharp.

And let’s not pretend performance isn’t being held back by one of our biggest self-inflicted wounds in business today.... ghosting. It might sound trivial, but it’s endemic. People not replying to emails, dodging decisions, avoiding accountability and ghosting is costing us time, trust and ultimately productivity. If you want to sharpen up performance, start by holding people to account. Leaders need to lead. That includes returning calls, giving feedback, making the tough calls when needed. It’s basic, but it’s being ignored across too many boardrooms, teams and networks

Priorities are the next piece. In uncertain times, the temptation is to do more. Launch more projects, chase more customers, pile on more ‘strategic initiatives’. But please don’t. More is not better. Focus is better, focus and attention it whats required. If your strategy isn’t written on one page and understood by everyone, you don’t have a strategy. You have noise, confusion and space for non-performance.

This new tax year is the perfect time to clarify what really matters. What are the 2–3 things that will move the dial for your business in the next 12 months? That’s where your energy, money and people should go. Everything else? Push it back, cut it out, or say no and give your self real space and clarity to focus. Leadership means being clear on where you’re going and being brave enough to ignore the unhelpful distractions.

The third piece - people - is the one that too many leaders still treat as fluffy HR territory. It isn’t, it’s everything! Your team’s mindset, behaviour and capability will decide whether you thrive or stagnate this year. Are they aligned? Are they hungry? Do they feel safe enough to challenge you, and confident enough to run with the ball when things change fast.

Forget the ping pong tables and mental health webinars for now. Start with something more radical like trusting your people. That means giving them clarity, space and responsibility. Stop micromanaging. Stop holding back praise. Stop avoiding difficult conversations.

British businesses are brilliant at politeness, but not so good at honesty. And that’s holding us back.

It’s time a great time to upgrade leadership.

I don’t mean putting the senior team through another bland ‘away day’. I mean getting up close and professional to what matters and whats needed. Asking each leader, 'Are you actually leading? Or are you managing activity, avoiding confrontation, and hiding behind process?' Businesses need leaders who make things happen, not just keep the wheels turning. Leaders who develop others, not dominate them. Leaders who know when to challenge and when to support.

The next 12 months will test many leaders in the UK. With potential political challenges at home and abroad, supply chain fragility, global market jitters, and the ongoing pressure to ‘do more with less’, there will be no shortage of stress. And that’s when leadership matters most. When things get tight, people look up. What will they see?

Now, let’s be clear, we can’t control all the external stuff. We can’t stop a US president slapping tariffs on imports or exports. We can’t stop inflation bouncing back. We can’t control what customers or competitors will do. But we can control how we think, where we focus, and how we lead change and show up as leaders.

And if British businesses want to win this year, that’s where we must start, in my opinion.

So here’s the challenge (and the opportunity)

Make this new tax year count. Don’t wait for permission, don’t blame the market, and don’t carry passengers. Make tough calls. Reset your strategy. Talk to your people like adults. Own your culture. And above all, stop letting poor behaviour and weak habits pass unchecked or else it will become the norm and cost you dear.

You don’t need to be perfect. But you do need to be clearly intentional.

This is a defining moment and great opportunity for UK business. There’s an opportunity here to shake off mediocrity, drop the dead wood and run bolder, smarter, tighter operations. The world isn’t going to get easier, but we can get better and we can lead business change far more effectively.

So ask yourself, honestly...... what are you going to change this year?

Doing nothing is not an option, not if you want to build a business that’s fit for the future. Not if you want to lead people who trust you. And not if you want to grow, perform and make a real difference.

The next 12 months are coming, fast. Time to lead like it matters.