IDEAS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE

History is likely to name our age as the Age of Connectivity. That is largely down to the extraordinary leaps forward in communication technology that we are all lucky enough to enjoy. The connectivity of the past few decades will now power up to another whole level with AI and make what we all thought was science fiction, science fact.

I would suggest that alongside this transformative connectivity technology has brought us there is another very profound connective change underway in our society – business is much more connected to our lives and more at the center of our societies generally. Gone are the days of business being nothing more than an isolated financial activity, which it has been seen for many decades.

The historic view that business was for the elite only and dominated purely by major financial interests is now changing. While small groups of businesses and businesspeople still do have huge power – in some ways more concentrated than ever and the power of financial capital is certainly as strong as ever – we are now seeing other stakeholders becoming much more engaged, powerful, and increasingly influential.

Equity capitalism will remain a central force because of the importance of funding but other stakeholders from regulators and politicians to employees, customers, communities, and NGOs are going to have a much greater role and power than ever before.

This transition to a more complex stakeholder world is an enormous challenge to this generation of leaders as it involves much greater engagement and accountability on a wider group of societal issues. Many have described this as ESG, but I would argue that it is actually the beginning of business increasingly being asked to play a much more central role in society. Our progress will be marked by a tsunami of non-financial reporting in a way we have never seen before. It will be an era of data capture and transparency which will bring huge changes, particularly as we begin to assess the impact of externalities that currently do not sit on our balance sheets or profits and loss accounts.

To be a business leader now you will be asked, indeed expected, to consider your workers’ health, mental health and well-being in a way you never were before. Outside of your own employees, business will be asked to find solutions to climate change, pandemics, community problems, inequality, diversity. All manner of new demands will arrive on your boardroom tables. You may not be able to solve these huge social and environmental problems, but you will be asked to play a part in a solution rather than just be seen as being part of the problem.

This is a fundamentally different role and connectivity for business in our lives and in our society. That connectivity has profound implications in the same way connectivity through technology is changing our world. Indeed, they will overlap in a number of ways.

Two obvious examples are the creation of a new superpower in AI and, partly linked to that, the beginning of a new generation of health solutions. For these to be developed safely and positively engaged, if not controlled, by the wider stakeholder community is crucial. We will need this development to be guided by our social values and beliefs not just businesses’ ability to maximise their profitability.

Our track record of developing global solutions without a wider connected view is not strong. Take the world’s progress in developing solutions to pollution and climate change, or the distribution of global vaccines during the COVID pandemic. However, leadership in business is adapting fast to these impacts and externalities in our current system. Progress and change may not be as fast as many would like but a different view – a multi-stakeholder view – is now being developed and applied in Boardrooms much more widely.

Leading universities are playing a crucial role in helping future leaders build the capabilities to deal well with this new environment, preparing them to tackle the huge challenges and opportunities ahead. Management has become more accessible to more people and turned into a genuinely 3D activity – broader and more exciting in many ways. One of humankind’s greatest traits is the ability to continuously adapt, if leadership can do that in this changing environment, I believe business can become an even greater force for good, not only in generating better sustainable growth, but to deliver more genuine broader benefits for people all around the globe.