Sep 05, 2025

Disruption Is Cognitively Tough: Reflections from Washington, D.C.

Recently, I spent time in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers across the political spectrum. My aim was simple: to understand how shifting policies will impact those of us running lean, globally connected businesses. For me, this means leading a science products and distribution company in partnership with my longtime friend and brother in India.

During a national security briefing, one phrase stayed with me: “Disruption is cognitively tough.” It captured my reality perfectly. I am both a disruptor—challenging entrenched ways of doing business in Rochester, NY—and simultaneously one of the disrupted, facing reduced science funding, shifting education standards, and looming 50% tariffs.

Disruption forces us to operate without precedent. It demands uncomfortable bets and faster adaptation than feels natural. Yet, disruption also creates opportunity. Below, I share my reflections across four dimensions: politics, economics, geopolitics, and national security.

Politics: A New Style of Leadership

Administration 47 is unlike any before it. Its inner circle is filled not with career politicians, but with billionaires, private equity executives, and tech founders. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a hedge fund veteran, embodies the shift: decision-making is results-driven, transactional, and often indifferent to the lived realities of small business and everyday citizens.

In dozens of meetings this week, I noticed a striking absence of firsthand entrepreneurial experience. Policies are often prescribed before problems are fully diagnosed.

The contrast between parties is sharp. Democrats favor consensus—data gathering, deliberation, and slow decision-making. Republicans, by contrast, embrace disruption: break systems, cut costs, see what survives, let the courts sort it out, then fix later. It is efficient, but punishing for capital-light, cash-dependent businesses.

This administration prizes execution over reflection. Deals matter more than deliberation. Even the State Department now refers to business leaders as “customers” of U.S. policy services. While refreshing in its pragmatism, this approach risks sacrificing wisdom for speed. As former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reminded me: “You can never cut a good deal with a bad guy.”

Economics: Tariffs as Political Currency

Tariffs are not going away. Even if courts strike down the current ones, the administration retains powerful tools:

Section 232 (National Security): Tariffs up to 15% globally for 150 days.
Section 301 (Commerce Burden): Lengthy to implement (investigation, public comment, committee), but once enacted, tariffs can last for years.

Exemptions, once bureaucratic, now feel like political favors. For business leaders, the lesson is clear: assume no relief will come. Plan accordingly.

Geopolitics: The Age of De-Globalization

Washington now views global supply chains through a national security lens. Two beliefs dominate:

Critical manufacturing must take place in the United States.
If not here, then at least within the Western Hemisphere.

This reshoring wave is redrawing industries from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals. For companies like mine, it requires rebalancing global footprints, accelerating U.S.-based production, and reimagining how to operate across continents—particularly with partners in India.

National Security: From Abstract to Immediate

National security risks are no longer theoretical—they shape daily decision-making:

Cyber Warfare: China and Russia probe U.S. systems every day. Future conflicts will begin not with bombs, but with strikes on financial and communications infrastructure.
Ukraine: The war has rewritten doctrine. Autonomous drones and AI systems now define battlefields.
Artificial Intelligence: AI is the next arms race. The nation that fuses cutting-edge innovation with smart regulation will shape the global order.
Taiwan: Senior officials privately estimate 3:1 odds of Chinese action by 2028.

Diplomacy, too, is innovating. The UAE’s Abrahamic Family House—a shared campus for a mosque, synagogue, and church—embodies visionary statecraft. Recognizing that oil will not last forever, the UAE is building an economy around innovation, safety, and fiscal prudence. Imagine if the United States embraced the same urgency.

What This Means for Business

For Enalas—and for any business navigating disruption—the path is clear:

Be transparent with customers. Explain tariffs, costs, and trade-offs honestly.
Engage policymakers. Ensure decision-makers grasp the real-world impact of their policies.
Prioritize liquidity. Cash is survival; dry powder matters.
Invest conservatively. Choose flexibility over rigidity.
Diversify. Reassess supply chains, revenue streams, and manufacturing footprints.
Lead with character. Build courage, judgment, and ambition in yourself and your teams.

Above all, keep watching the poker table. This administration keeps going all-in. At some point, it will lose a hand—whether in the courts, on Capitol Hill, or abroad. The job of leadership is to anticipate that moment.

Closing Thought

Disruption is cognitively tough because it forces us into uncharted territory—without precedent, without certainty, and without full information. But disruption is also where transformation happens. Washington is remaking itself through disruption. So too must we in business.

The challenge is immense. But so is the opportunity.

Thanks for the Read.