It is tempting, amid the noise of breaking news and bold pronouncements, to cling to the hope that “this too shall pass.” But what if we are not in the middle of a crisis to be weathered, but rather a transformation to be understood and actively navigated?
The recent special edition of the Competent Boards Global Forum only reinforces what many directors feel in their bones: the old playbook is obsolete. We are not just dealing with cyclical shocks. We are facing a systemic realignment, political, economic, environmental, and technological, all at once.
I’ve sat through many boardroom conversations, briefings, and global conferences in recent years. But I don’t recall a moment that felt as disorienting, and as revealing, as the one we are in right now.
In just the last few weeks, I’ve listened to global economists, former ministers, directors, and policy architects grapple not with another market dip or energy price spike, but with the possibility that the foundational architecture of the global economy is dissolving in real time.
This isn’t another chapter in a book we’ve read before. It’s a different story altogether. The plot twist? The institutions that once set the rules are now rewriting them, ignoring them, or burning them entirely. And the largest player of all, the United States, may no longer be a stabilizer. It may be a wildcard.
So, now what?
Start by accepting this truth: You will not return to normal. There is no going back.
Boards that keep asking, “When will the uncertainty end?” are asking the wrong question. The better one is: “How do we govern in a world where uncertainty is the baseline?”
We’ve been trained to look at risks in silos. Trade risk here. Climate risk there. AI somewhere else. That no longer works. Today’s shocks are entangled and relentless. Trade policy can no longer be separated from geopolitics. Climate-related disasters are reshaping insurance markets. AI is not a future consideration. It is already determining who gets hired, who gets credit, and who gets left behind.
But here’s the harder truth. Some companies, and perhaps more than we care to admit, are building their strategies around political protection rather than genuine competitive strength. That’s a risky bet. If your business model only makes sense in a protectionist bubble, what happens when that bubble bursts?
As we heard in the Global Forum, “Don’t invest in uncompetitive positions hoping the political climate will hold.” We’ve seen this movie before. And it ends badly for those who confuse temporary insulation with long-term resilience.
So, where does that leave you as a board member?
You are no longer just overseeing a business. You are making judgment calls in the fog, where global rules may be rewritten mid-flight, where elections on another continent might shift your cost base, and where your sustainability strategy could be disrupted by regulation or deregulation alike.
Your job now is not to forecast the future. It is to prepare for “futures”. Yes, in plural form. This means letting go of the illusion that one linear path lies ahead. The reality is that we are entering an era where multiple plausible outcomes can unfold, shaped by shifting geopolitics, technological breakthroughs, regulatory upheaval, climate disruptions, and social movements, often all at once.
Scenario planning must become second nature, meaning that boards should treat it not as a once-a-year exercise, but as a default way of thinking. And not the sanitized kind. Exercises that imagine what happens if the United States imposes a 60 percent tariff overnight on your key revenue items, or if your largest supplier goes under after a climate disaster, or if a generative AI model renders your product irrelevant, or there is a cyber blackout.
This moment isn’t just about resilience; it’s a moment of reckoning
Boards must confront a painful question: Were we too comfortable for too long? Too reactive? Too slow to adapt when the signals were already blinking red?
In many rooms, I still see directors grasping for comfort language. “This too shall pass. Let’s not overreact. Let’s wait and see.” But what if the waiting is the problem? What if the lesson of this decade is that waiting is a luxury no longer afforded to leaders?
And yet, in all this turbulence, there is one constant: values.
The most durable companies I’ve worked with, the ones still gaining trust, still innovating, still attracting talent, are those that built cultures of clarity, integrity, and adaptability. They didn’t chase every signal. They anchored to values. And they prepared for change before it arrived.
Because here’s what the old playbook never prepared us for: governing through contradiction.
We are in a moment when you might have to invest more and spend less, grow markets and reduce emissions, lean into AI and ensure human oversight. These are no longer paradoxes to avoid. They are leadership challenges to embrace.
I don’t know where the uncertainty will take us—no one does. But I do know what kind of board members we will need—those who can navigate not with certainty but with clarity, not with fear but with foresight.
So don’t ask when the chaos ends. Ask how you’ll lead through it. If you haven’t already, it’s high time to:
- Simplify the essentials. Use smart technology not just to ease boardroom administrative burden, but to free up time and focus for what truly matters: strategy, foresight, and decision-making
- Perform a robust board evaluation to ensure the dynamics and the skillsets are good to lead through the turbulent times
- Accelerate board effectiveness. Build a focused board that makes every minute count and implement methods to extract more director value-add in board meetings
- Invest in upskilling. Yesterday’s knowledge won’t meet tomorrow’s expectations. Upskilling isn’t a luxury; it’s a fiduciary duty.