Author: Owen Miles, VP Solutions Engineering EMEA at Restrata
Date: 13 Nov 2025
Blog Series: ‘Miles to Go’ – Exploring the foundations of resilience & continuity
#12 – The Illusion of Readiness: Why Confidence Isn’t Capability
The Illusion of Readiness: Why Confidence Isn’t Capability
Many organizations believe they’re ready for disruption. They’ve got a plan. They’ve passed an audit. They’ve held a tabletop exercise. But when the pressure hits, confidence often gives way to confusion.
This is the illusion of readiness—where the appearance of preparedness masks the absence of capability.
I’ve seen teams freeze because they hadn’t rehearsed their roles. Systems fail because they hadn’t been tested under real-world conditions. Leaders hesitate because escalation paths weren’t clear. The plan existed—but the people, processes, and platforms weren’t aligned to execute it.
This illusion is often reinforced by internal reporting. Metrics show that plans exist, training has been delivered, and systems are in place. But those metrics rarely measure execution under pressure. They don’t capture how people behave when the stakes are high and time is short.
True resilience isn’t about how confident you feel—it’s about how capable you are when it counts. And capability comes from depth, practice, and integration—not from documentation alone.
The most resilient organizations I’ve worked with are those that challenge their own confidence. They simulate disruption, test assumptions, and ask hard questions. They don’t settle for “we have a plan”—they ask, “can we execute it under pressure?”
Call to Action: Challenge your assumptions. What makes you confident in your resilience? Test it—and see if capability matches belief.
Next Week: We’ll explore how to embed resilience into everyday operations—so it’s not just a plan, but a way of working.