# The Board Wants 20% Cost Cuts. Where Do You Start Without Breaking the Business?

A large savings target has been set before leaders understand which costs protect revenue, safety, quality, compliance, or the operating capabilities needed for recovery.

Canonical URL: https://newphysician.org/executive-problems/board-wants-cost-cuts-without-breaking-business/

## Related public resources
- [Executive Difficult Problems](https://newphysician.org/executive-problems/)
- [Fractional Executive Work](https://newphysician.org/fractional-executive/)
- [Discuss a Difficult Problem](https://newphysician.org/discuss/?interest=fractional_executive&article=board-wants-cost-cuts-without-breaking-business)

Conclusion: A credible cost program is an operating-model decision with financial consequences, not a spreadsheet allocation exercise.