So we went and spoke to these 30 leaders top executives
from listed companies and we kept the conversation
anonymous because that's the only way you can get
into something that they're challenged with.
What was the main point you took out of our conversation?
I think the first point I'll highlight is, and
in every interview,
this was the first 15 minutes and that was talking about crisis load.
So for the past three and a half years,
ever since COVID came,
one crisis has been taking over the next one.
So geopolitical tensions,
inflation,
supply chain challenges and so forth.
And that really puts leaders in a special position where
they all the time are on the spot and need to make
decisions collectively together with their leadership teams.
So that's definitely one part of the
shift and something that's changed.
They all say we spend significantly more time
in the board and in the executive committee,
both time and energy.
But interestingly enough,
about the same time as COVID broke out,
something else happened.
And I think the most
evident point of departure for that was at the World
Economic Forum where Edelman Trust survey was published.
And that's a survey where they go out
and asked the people on the planet,
who do you expect to solve the worthwhile problems of humanity?
And for the first time ever,
they didn't point to policymakers or NGOs. They pointed to
leaders and organizations as the entity that has the capabilities,
but also the agency to fix these societal problems.
And specifically,
they expect CEOs to both speak up and
take a lead in propelling society forward.
And I think it's an interesting point
because the implications of that is that
suddenly societal problems have become business problems.
And that just makes choice making different as of now.
Yeah.
And one thing I think really stood out in the interviews around
that was also that the way people or the leaders experience
that is that the stakeholder landscape is completely changed.
So you're no longer answering just to shareholders.
You're answering to a much larger community of stakeholders,
the public policymakers and so forth.
And you don't really choose those stakeholders yourself.
They choose you.
And if you don't have an opinion and if you don't cater for that,
then it can really backfire on you.
Up until now,
it has been more or less okay to say,
I'm just running a business.
I'm trying to outgrow competition and I'm trying to make more profit,
profitable growth.
And suddenly,
the tectonic shift has meant that
that's not good enough.
We are expected also to propel society forward.
And these issues are often a lot more value-based.
They're a lot more,
have much more components of ethics and moral and so forth,
which is also a bit of a new dimension
that businesses need to navigate.
The implications is that the problems
we're looking into are more complex.
They hold more ambiguity.
They even have paradoxical tensions,
which means they're persistent.
Even if we make a commitment and actions,
the problem doesn't go away.
It takes a few months.
Then the problem will look us in the eye again and say,
have you done enough?
Could you do more?
So it's kind of annoying.
It's persistent.
And there is some permanent kind of discomfort
in holding problems that has that feel.
That they don't go away.
And I think an example that also came
up several times was around navigating
a DEI agenda,
so diversity,
equity and inclusion.
So lots of companies start in one place.
Maybe they start with gender.
But then after they've been working on that for a while,
new questions will arise.
Well, what about neurodiversity?
What about LGBT plus?
What about age?
What about international employees and so forth?
So it's something that will keep returning to you.
So a shift that has three components.
One is crisis load.
One is societal problems have become business problems.
And then lastly,
there are paradoxical problems and loads of
tension and complexity and ambiguity.