Maybe we’re thinking about “tailwinds” all wrong

We don’t sail often. And if we’re really getting into semantics, we don’t sail at all. Like, ever. We have never sailed. That’s probably the more accurate way to put it.

So when we say “headwinds,” we mean it in the CFO way, like inflation and high interest rates, not wind blowing in front of you, or however boat people use it. And when we say “tailwinds,” well…same same but different.

We wrote about the biggest headwinds in 2025, which you probably could’ve predicted from a mile (or whatever unit of measurement sailors use) away. The usual suspects—an uncertain macro environment, tech-related risks, talent concerns—all cropped up.

But if you’re going to talk about tailwinds in 2025—by which we mean bright spots for business, not sailor talk—you might want to call up that frenemy from college who’s randomly always on a boat, because nautical knowledge comes in handy here.

At least, that’s what Michael Bayer, CFO of Wasabi, a cloud storage company, who knows just enough about sailing, wants other CFOs to understand. The major tailwinds of 2025 were really no different than the headwinds—it’s all just a matter of framing, in his mind.

“If you think about a sailing analogy, a headwind, you think of it as a bad thing, but it can still help you tack. Tacking is [when] you’re going sideways against the wind, and you use it,” he told CFO Brew. “Even if you have a headwind, you can still move forward, and it becomes a very interesting force that you use.”

And on the flip side, everything they say about too much of a good thing is probably true. “A tailwind can actually be a problem,” Bayer stressed. “I’m sure it’s great: The wind is at your back and feels easy and it feels good, but if the tailwind is too strong, you can’t steer the boat, and it can actually flip the boat over.”

What really makes something a tailwind is how you take advantage of it, Bayer added.

How you use it. Take the labor market. On one hand, it’s an obvious headwind right now: Hiring has stalled, and there could be bigger cracks under the surface that we can’t see yet as a result of the recent government shutdown.

“There is an overcount in the payroll job numbers, we think,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, as the central bank lowered interest rates. “I think a world where job creation is negative, I think we need to watch that situation very carefully, and be in a position where we are not pushing down on job creation with our policy.”

But those with jobs are staying put: The voluntary quits rate dropped to a five-year low, per the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The labor market is becoming a much more exclusive club,” Noah Yosif, chief economist at the American Staffing Association, told CNN. “Those on the inside, they’re doing pretty well; but for those on the outside, it’s getting harder and harder to break in.”

None of it sounds great, but the “no hire, no fire” job market can become a tailwind for CFOs if approached correctly, Bayer noted.

“It’s stability. It leads to longevity in employee relationships. It validates investing in our team, which is required for us to upskill them on AI,” he said. “I want to get them the best, latest skills, but it’s difficult if we think they’re all going to get those skills and leave. A more stable labor market makes it more appropriate for us to make those investments we’re trying to.”

Call it making lemonade out of would-be headwinds. After all, if there’s anything CFOs should have learned from the last year, it’s that headwinds aren’t going away—so you might as well turn them into tailwinds.

“Wind is wind. There’s always wind,” Bayer said. “Sometimes it’s strong. Sometimes you hit dead wind, but there’s always some kind of wind. It’s all how you use the wind to get where you’re going, and how you use it determines whether it’s a headwind or a tailwind.”