Economic slowdown and widespread uncertainty will test every business after this first wave of COVID. Only through imagination and persistence will senior teams limit financial risks and answer the emerging demands of employees, customers, and society.
Disruption in the economy and society caused by COVID-19 will force companies to rethink their business models, corporate strategies, and day-to-day operations. Teams can navigate this punishing ground by making plans for wildly untameable outcomes.
Can we – and, if so, how might we – advance economic prosperity whilst making responsible use of Earth’s resources? A single person cannot grasp all the – ecological, societal, individual, financial and scientific – variables in play, but seven imperatives will help open a way forward.
Demands within our natural and social worlds are forcing a new reality for business. Boards and senior teams have no choice but to leap from the runaway train of shareholder value.
Your organisation’s ambition to change the world can inspire great accomplishments – but only if people see how their own role fits into the wider purpose. Are your people mopping floors or, as NASA’s janitor believed, sending a man to the moon?
The world’s expectations of business are changing. To thrive, companies need better, up-to-date answers to the fundamental questions of why they exist, and for whom.