Leave the Old and Bring in the New

Leave the Old and Bring in the New

In most business we are racing towards the end of the year and yet adjust strategy, do planning and budgets for the next year. The reflection of the year gone by, and with new covid mutations rising, increased issues from climate change, geopolitical and digital security challenges, proves that the risk and uncertainty is very high and we need to plan for new businesses and increased resilience. 

According to a new survey by Gartner, 57% of boards have or are expecting to increase their risk appetite going into 2022, where they cite the top risks to business performance to be economic uncertainty (38%), disruptive business models from competitors (35%) and cost of inflation due to supply shortage (28%). The top 3 Strategic Business Priorities found was Digital Tech Initiatives (58%), Workforce (52%) and ESG (26%).(Gartner, 2021)

One of Digoshen Founder Liselotte Engstam’s fellow research colleagues, INSEAD professor Ludo Van der Heyden, has co-authored an insightful paper on the topic of “Leading in Wicked Times: A Radical Shift to Inquiry, Humility and Fairness”.(Ludo van Der Heyden, 2020)

They find that leadership involves taking the initiative in resolving novel problems and changing the status quo, which is indeed true for the current boards.

Some of the insights they outline, as valuable fo boards as leader, include 

  • Begin with framing the problem right and beware of being wrong
  • Engage broadly and prioritize ASK of TELL
  • Combine humility with justified self-confidence
  • Maintain and build credibility based on process, hard truths, and admitting mistakes
  • Engage the world in searching for “good” or “better” options
  • Courage to take decisions when not all is known
  • Give decision a fair chance to succeed
  • Ensure to evaluate, learn the lesson and adapt
  • Use humility and fairness as a strong leadership virtue 

ESG Stewardship Survey

To understand how ESG is impacting board practices and strategy INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre has embarked on a new multiyear research study together with BCG “In Pursuit of ESG Stewardship – A BCG & INSEAD Board Pulse Check”. As the topic is of key rising concern, I would encourage my fellow board colleagues to spend some minutes in sharing your insights into the survey on boards governance of ESG. Find the link to the survey below.

In Advent

As the end of the year increasingly forces us to handle the ambidextrous situation of balancing short term with long term and the current with the new, we are proud to provide you with some inspiration and insights during the last month of the year in term of Advent Calendar.

Digoshen Advent Calendar shares inspiration on leadership, board work, innovation, digital, sustainability and some fun as well, every day until Christmas. You find Digoshen Digital Advent Calendar here: https://bit.ly/DigAdventCal2021

As many board members will benefit of learning more about how to integrate sustainability, climate risks and opportunities into the business strategy, and how to lead ESG from the board, we have also put together a Boards Impact Forum Advent Calendar. The focus is to help board members step up their ability to guide their companies during next year, by educating them in World Economic Forums eight Climate Governance Principles and how to facilitate the journey. You find the Boards Impact Forum Digital Advent Calendar here: https://bit.ly/BIFAdventCal2021

This will be our greetings and holiday gift to you. 

And our wishes? We wish you will share the advent calendars with your colleagues. You will help them, as well as their companies, and the world to become a better place. 

We wish for you all a great year end closure and prosperous future!

Survey

“In Pursuit of ESG Stewardship – A BCG & INSEAD Board Pulse Check”. Fill in the survey here https://bit.ly/ESGsurveyINSEADBCG

References

Gartner (2021) Gartner BoD Survey HighlightsGartner Website. Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-21-gartner-says-57-percent-of-boards-of-directors-are-increasing-their-risk-appetite-into-2022.

Ludo van Der Heyden, N. K. (2020) Leading in Wicked Times: A Radical Shift to Inquiry, Humility, and FairnessINSEAD ICGC. Available at: https://sites.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=66937.

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This blogpost is originally shared at the blog of Digoshen, www.digoshen.com, and on the blog of the Digoshen founder www.liselotteengstam.com .

At Digoshen we work hard to increase #futureinsights and help remove #digitalblindspots and #sustainabilityblindspots. We believe that Companies, Boards and Business Leadership Teams need to understand more of the future and the digital & sustainable world to fully leverage the potential when bringing their business into the digital & more sustainable age. If you are a board member, consider joining our international board network and master programs.

To understand where you and your company stand in relation to digital business and leadership progress, take our survey at Digoshen.com/research and get a free of charge personalized report with recommendations on how to move forward. The survey is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete.

You will find more insights via Digoshen Website and you are welcome to follow us on LinkedIn Digoshen @ Linkedin and on twitter: @digoshen  and founder @liseeng