For a business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed.

Question

For a business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed. At the same time, for a business to be well managed, it must have a leader with clear vision, and clear vision is possible only for those willing to perceive reality accurately.

If the above statements on true, which of the following can be properly concluded on the basis of them?

(A) All businesses that are highly profitable have leaders who are willing to perceive reality accurately.

(B) Times of major downturns are the times when it is most important for business leaders to have clear vision.

(C) All businesses that have survived major downturns have at some point had leaders who were willing to perceive reality accurately.

(D) In a country in which willingness to perceive reality accurately is common among leaders, most businesses will survive a major downturn.

(E) Any business whose leader is willing to perceive reality accurately will be better managed than a business whose leader is not willing to do so.

Source:  Marty Murray Coaching

rv27394 · Accepted Answer

I am still struggling with option C.

"All businesses that have survived major downturns have   at some point   had leaders who were willing to perceive reality accurately".

As it says 'at some point', it might also be the case that the company didn't have the right leader during the downturn. Maybe I am overthinking.

MartyMurray · Answer

For a business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed. At the same time, for a business to be well managed, it must have a leader with clear vision, and clear vision is possible only for those willing to perceive reality accurately.

The passage presents a series of requirements:

- A business's surviving a major downturn requires that it be well managed.

- A business's being well managed requires a leader with clear vision.

- Clear vision require willingness to perceive reality accurately.

If the above statements on true, which of the following can be properly concluded on the basis of them?

This is an Inference question, and the correct answer will be something that must be true if the statements in the passage are true.

(A) All businesses that are highly profitable have leaders who are willing to perceive reality accurately.

The passage does not indicate that anything is required for a business to be "highly profitable."

So, this choice is not supported by the passage.

Eliminate.

(B) Times of major downturns are the times when it is most important for business leaders to have clear vision.

The passage indicates that clear vision is necessary for a business to survive a major downturn.

Notice, however, that it does not indicate how important it is for business leaders to have clear vision at other times.

So, the passage does not provide information that supports a comparison of how important business leaders having clear vision is at different times.

In other words, for all we know from what the passage says, it could be even more important for business leaders to have clear vision at other times than in times of major downturns.

So, while this choice may be plausible given what the passage says, it does not have to be true given what the passage says.

Eliminate.

(C) All businesses that have survived major downturns have at some point had leaders who were willing to perceive reality accurately.

This choice is interesting.

As discussed above, the passage presents a series of requirements:

A business's surviving a major downturn requires being well managed, which requires a leader with clear vision, which requires willingness to perceive reality accurately.

So, we can see that the passage indicates that a business's surviving a major downturn requires that its leader be willing to perceive reality accurately.

Accordingly, if a business has survived a major downturn, then at the time the business did so, it must have had a leader willing to perceive reality accurately.

Thus, we can say that, given what the passage says, it must be true that any business that has survived a major downturn has at some point, at the time of the downturn, had a leader who was willing to perceive reality accurately.

So, this choice must be true given what the passage says.

Keep.

(D) In a country in which willingness to perceive reality accurately is common among leaders, most businesses will survive a major downturn.

The key to understanding why this choice is incorrect is noticing that the passage indicates only that willingness to perceive reality accurately is  necessary  for surviving a major downturn. It does not indicate that having a leader who is willing to perceive reality accurately is  sufficient  for a business to survive a downturn.

So, for all we know given what the passage says, in many cases, businesses with leaders who are willing to perceive reality accurately will not survive a major downturn.

After all, the fact that one requirement for survival has been met doesn't mean that a business will survive. There could be other things that are also required for survival of a major downturn that the business does not meet.

Eliminate.

(E) Any business whose leader is willing to perceive reality accurately will be better managed than a business whose leader is not willing to do so.

The passage doesn't say that a leader's willingness to perceive reality accurately is the only thing required for a business to be well managed.

So, it's possible that, contrary to this choice, some businesses whose leaders are willing to perceive reality accurately will not be better managed than businesses whose leaders are not willing to do so.

For example, a business could have a leader who is willing to perceive reality accurately but is too busy with something else to manage the business well.

Also, a leader could be willing to perceive reality accurately and still not have the clear vision required for managing a business well. After all, the passage doesn't say that willingness to perceive reality accurately is the only thing necessary for clear vision. Other things may be necessary for clear vision as well.

So, this choice doesn't have to be true given what the passage says.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:   C

Nidhi1710 · Answer

I have also eliminated this choice for the same reason.

MartyMurray · Answer

Sometimes, GMAT question writers camouflage the correct answer to a Critical Reasoning, or Reading Comprehension, question by writing it in an unexpected way that makes it seem different from what we're looking for.

In this case, the use of "at some point" hides the fact that choice (C) is correct because we'd expect the correct answer to say something more along the lines of "All businesses that have survived major downturns have   at the time of the downturns   had leaders who were willing to perceive reality accurately."

At the same time, we can avoid being thrown off by the wording of the choice by noticing that, if a business must have had a leader willing to perceive reality accurately  at the time of a downturn , then it must be true that the business had such a leader  at some point .

It's also key to be clear that, while choice (C) does not necessarily mean that businesses had such leaders during downturns, it's still correct because the correct answer to an Inference question doesn't have to restate or support what the passage says. It has only to follow from what the passage says, and choice (C) does so.

Hope that helps. If you have further questions, just let me know.

Rafsapera · Answer

MartyMurray

Hey Marty

for option C doesnt the word at some point makes it a possiblity that the business may have a leader with vision when the downtime was there. or may/ may not be when the downtime was there, it can be a scenario the leader may/may not be with the business. I want to understand how it is must be true for this.

Regards
Madhavan

MartyMurray · Answer

Hi Madhavan,

Here's the key question.

Given what the passage says, could a business survive a downturn without a leader with clear vision?

No, right?

So, it must be the case that any business that has survived a major downturn had  at the point of the downturn  a leader willing to perceive reality accurately.

Thus, we can say with certainty that, as (C) says, all businesses that have survived major downturns have at some point had leaders who were willing to perceive reality accurately.

vasu1104 · Answer

business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed.
for well managed business, must have leader with clear vision.
clear vision is possible only for those willing to perceive reality accurately.

so if anyone who received reality accurately has clear vision and who has clear vision will manage business well and when its well managed, business survive major downturn.

A its not about business being profitable at all. out.
B no. it never said that only during downturn leader needs clear vision. out.
C yes, if business survived the downturn then it must have leader who perceived reality accurately. keep.
D passage says that if reality is perceived accurately then business survive the downturn. that means any business but this choice talks about most business, out.
E but can they do it in downturn? need to knwo about that but not mentioned here. out.

choice C

egmat · Answer

Hi Rafsapera,

You've spotted the exact phrase the question writer used to disguise the answer, and you're right that "at some point"  sounds  vaguer than "during the downturn." But that looseness actually works  in C's favor , not against it.

Start with the chain the passage gives us:

- Survive a major downturn - well managed
- Well managed - leader with clear vision
- Clear vision - willing to perceive reality accurately

So the moment a business  survived  a downturn, it must - right then, at that time - have had a leader willing to perceive reality accurately. That's the strong fact the passage forces.

Now here's the key move:  if the strong version is guaranteed, the weaker version is automatically guaranteed too.  "At the time of the downturn" is a specific point in time. "At some point" just means  at least once . If it's true at that specific time, then it's certainly true "at some point."

You were worried that "at some point" leaves room for the leader  not  being there during the downturn. But C isn't claiming the leader was absent then - it's making a claim broad enough to include that exact moment. A broader, easier-to-satisfy statement can't fail when the narrower one is already locked in.

A quick parallel to feel it:

If I know you ate breakfast this morning, is it true that you ate breakfast at some point in your life?

Of course - it  must  be true, precisely because the specific fact (this morning) already sits inside the broader claim. The vaguer wording never makes it less certain; it makes it easier to be certain.

That's why C is a must-be-true, not a maybe. The chain nails down the strong claim, and C only asks for the weaker one.

Answer: C

For a business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed.

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

For a business to survive a major downturn, it must be well managed.

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