What Business Can Learn from Hudson’s Bay: The Insurgent’s Guide to Survival
Legacy Is Not a Strategy
Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), founded in 1670, is North America's oldest company, predating most modern nations. Recently, HBC announced its decision to liquidate—a sobering reminder that legacy is not a strategy. No company, no matter how historic, is entitled to survive indefinitely. Survival in today’s rapidly changing world must be earned through constant reinvention and adaptation.
For decades, HBC operated under the assumption that its legacy alone entitled it to market dominance. This mindset led to an inability to embrace insurgent thinking, resulting in the persistence of outdated retail models as disruptors reshaped the industry. The company didn’t collapse overnight—it eroded, one missed opportunity at a time.
The rise and fall of Hudson’s Bay is a powerful reminder that businesses must continually evolve. This is equally true for individual professionals. The era of lifetime employment is over. Professionals must view each role as a temporary assignment, continually adapting and developing skills to stay relevant. An insurgent leader anticipates disruption, remaining agile and prepared for what’s next.
What Is Insurgency? The Power of the Challenger Mindset
At its core, insurgency is the mindset of challenging existing norms, disrupting stagnant industries, and shaping change before it becomes a threat. Insurgents don’t protect outdated models—they actively reshape the landscape and create new opportunities. This mindset is not a passive response to external threats but an active strategy of reinvention and innovation.
Jim Woods, CEO of Seattle Consulting Group, is the architect of the Principled Centered Insurgent Leadership™ Framework. This framework was designed to empower leaders to break free from the limitations of traditional business thinking and embrace perpetual innovation. It champions the idea that survival and success in the modern world require insurgent thinking—an approach where leaders don’t just respond to challenges, they create change before change forces them to act.
Today, companies like Amazon, Uber, and Tesla are prime examples of businesses that embraced insurgency. These companies didn’t just improve on existing models—they revolutionized their industries by disrupting the status quo. HBC, on the other hand, continued to follow outdated practices, leaving itself vulnerable to competitors who understood the necessity of reinvention.
Three Leadership Lessons from Hudson’s Bay’s Fall
1. The Fallacy of Market Control: Power Doesn’t Last—Insurgency Does
For much of its history, HBC held an undisputed monopoly over commerce in North America. This control over distribution channels and resources created the illusion that dominance was permanent. However, the monopoly mindset led to stagnation and complacency. As competitors began to innovate, HBC struggled to adjust.
In today’s world, no business is immune from disruption. Companies like Blockbuster and Kodak serve as cautionary tales of how even dominant players can be overtaken when they fail to evolve. Complacency is the enemy of survival. Insurgency—the ability to challenge the status quo—is the key to thriving in a world that rewards agility and innovation.
2. The Danger of Outdated Thinking: The Rules of the Past Won’t Win the Future
One of the most dangerous pitfalls for any business is clinging to legacy thinking. This mindset assumes that the past offers a reliable guide for the future. HBC’s failure to adapt to the rise of e-commerce is a classic example of how outdated thinking can lead to obsolescence. The company remained over-reliant on its physical retail stores, failing to recognize the fundamental shift toward online shopping.
Legacy thinking causes leaders to defend past strategies rather than embracing the unknown. For HBC, the world was changing, but the company refused to adjust its model to meet new customer expectations. This resistance to change ultimately led to its downfall.
To remain competitive, leaders must understand that the rules of the past will never guarantee success in the future. Innovation and adaptability must be central to any strategy.
3. Adaptation as a Leadership Discipline: Reinvention Isn’t a Reaction—It’s a Mindset
Reinvention isn’t simply a reaction to market forces—it must be ingrained as a leadership discipline. Successful companies and leaders don’t wait for disruption to happen—they actively create change. Leaders who embrace reinvention recognize that adaptation is not a one-time event but an ongoing process.
When HBC finally recognized its need for change, it was too late. The company’s failure to consistently evolve meant it was already too far behind its competitors. In today’s fast-paced business world, leaders must instill a culture of adaptability and continuous innovation at every level of their organization.
To foster a culture of adaptation, leaders should:
Foster a Growth Mindset: Encourage experimentation and learning, even through failure. Adaptation requires constant learning and evolving.
Embrace Technology: Keep pace with technological innovations that could drive efficiencies and enhance customer experiences.
Encourage Agility: Make swift decisions based on data and market shifts, allowing the organization to pivot quickly when necessary.
Redefine Success: Success must be viewed as continuous reinvention rather than a destination. Leaders should focus on long-term sustainability and perpetual evolution.
The Insurgent Professional: Why This Matters to You
HBC’s decline offers important lessons not just for organizations but also for individual professionals. In an era where industries evolve rapidly, the notion of lifetime employment is anachronistic. Professionals must think like insurgents—constantly adapting and reinventing their skillsets to stay ahead of the competition.
The insurgent professional is always learning, always improving, and always prepared for the next opportunity. They don’t view roles as long-term destinations; they treat each position as an opportunity to grow, knowing that adaptability and continuous development are the keys to career longevity.
The Role of Leadership and HR: The Missing Link in HBC’s Downfall
1. Leadership’s Failure to Innovate
Hudson’s Bay Company’s inability to adapt was rooted in a failure of leadership. HBC’s leadership clung to the past, failing to envision a future where digital transformation and shifting consumer behaviors redefined the retail landscape. Instead of embracing disruption, they defended traditional business models, ignoring the evolving needs of their customers.
Leadership at HBC was also slow to recognize the importance of continuous innovation. Their failure to pivot to e-commerce, for example, left them vulnerable to disruptors who capitalized on the emerging trend. In today’s fast-paced business world, leadership must embrace perpetual change and prepare the organization for the challenges of the future.
2. HR’s Role in the Change Management Failure
The role of HR in supporting transformation is crucial, yet HBC’s HR strategy didn’t align with the company’s need for change. HR should be a strategic partner in helping organizations navigate disruption. However, at HBC, HR was likely not proactive enough in fostering a culture of innovation or facilitating change management processes that would have enabled the company to evolve.
As retail models transitioned, HR should have been a key player in reshaping the workforce. This includes focusing on upskilling employees, recruiting digital talent, and creating an organizational culture that thrives on change. Failure in this area left HBC ill-prepared to transition to new models that required technology-driven leadership and employee agility.
3. The Consequences of Outdated HR Practices
One of the critical areas where HBC fell short was in adapting HR practices to meet the demands of a digital economy. HR should have been fostering a culture that embraced innovation and flexibility, aligning talent strategies with the company’s evolving goals. Instead, HBC’s leadership—and its HR team—allowed complacency to settle in. They failed to prepare for the shift to e-commerce and didn’t manage change effectively, leaving the company vulnerable to disruption.
For HR leaders, the lesson is clear: If you’re not leading change, you’re contributing to stagnation. HR must play an active role in driving innovation and aligning talent with new business objectives, particularly in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Are You Leading the Future or Defending the Past?
Hudson’s Bay’s story shows us that legacy and past successes do not guarantee future viability. The market rewards reinvention and insurgency—those who are willing to challenge the status quo, take risks, and create change before it’s forced upon them.
For today’s leaders, the question is: Are you actively shaping the future, or are you simply defending the past? To ensure survival, businesses must embrace the Principled Centered Insurgent Leadership™ Framework and adopt the mindset of perpetual reinvention. Legacy is not a strategy—innovation is.
References
Business Insider. (2025). The full list of automakers cutting jobs, including Porsche, GM, and Ford. Retrieved from businessinsider.com
Global News. (2025). Hudson’s Bay plans ‘immediate’ liquidation of entire business. Retrieved from globalnews.ca
Lagerstedt, E. (2018). The decline of Kodak and the rise of digital photography: What can we learn? Journal of Business History, 53(2), 115-134.