Built on Grit: What happened in 2025?
Written by Matt Russell, President
2025 has been a tough year for many. I’ve grown accustomed to the ups and downs of being a small business owner, but no one could have anticipated the hits we’d take this year. The reality is that even when we do good, honest work, it’s not always enough.
There’s no sugarcoating it. Contracts were canceled. Projects we poured our hearts into were defunded, re-scoped, or shelved. Our clients went through wave after wave of difficult changes: RIFs, RTW, DRPs. “Efficiency” seemed to take on a very different meaning. Small businesses like ours became collateral damage. We were forced to make heartbreaking decisions, and ultimately, we lost about half of our employees, not just employees, our teammates. Each one of them was chosen because they were incredibly skilled, talented, and dedicated. They didn’t deserve this.
We tried to remain optimistic and effective while living under a cloud of uncertainty. It was, and remains, challenging some days.
But we weren’t going to take this lying down. We rolled up our sleeves and got back to work, shifting to meet the new challenges our current and future clients are facing. This new landscape demands efficiency, cost savings, and agility—faster, more focused delivery. News flash: that’s what we do best. We were doing it before there was a government department for that.
Still, through it all, I’ve stayed hopeful and keep fighting to protect what makes this team different. Because I see the core of who we are: an imperfect but relentless team, adapting, learning, and pushing through. We’re built on grit.
We rolled up our sleeves and got back to work, shifting to meet the new challenges our current and future clients are facing.
And grit shows up when everything else falls away. It’s the late nights spent solving impossible problems. It’s the quiet moments of accountability when things don’t go as planned. It’s choosing to show up for each other, even when it’s hard. That’s who we are. That’s what this team has always been about.
This year made that clearer than ever. It reminded us that culture isn’t built during the easy seasons; it’s forged in the hard ones. When the noise fades, what’s left are the people who believe in the mission, not just the momentum.
I still love building. I still love this team. And I still believe in creating something meaningful, even in a world that seems hell-bent on complicating itself.
It was a painful year, but it clarified a lot…who we are, who we fight for, and why we keep showing up.
In the aftermath, there’s a chance to rebuild smarter, stronger, and more intentional than before. We’ve always done our best work when the odds were stacked against us. This time won’t be any different.
Let’s roll.
About the Author
Matt Russell
Matt Russell is the President and co-founder of Cynerge Consulting. With over 20 years of experience leading digital transformation for public and private organizations, he’s passionate about building teams and technologies that make complex systems work smarter.
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