Until We Meet Again: Davos Past and Future

In my last article, I talked about my excitement and anticipation ahead of making my inaugural trip to attend the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos. My expectations were beyond exceeded. It left me extremely hungry for more. And I’m already thinking about the next Davos and what the fundamental issue or challenge will be that we will explore in January when we gather again.

My prediction? Resilience.

The way I see it, resilience is the key to how we can thrive amidst the seemingly never-ending chaos and disruption. It’s how we keep our organizations flexible and focused in the face of massive and sudden challenges like the Covid pandemic, wars like the one Russia is waging on Ukraine, and the climate change-driven storms and droughts that are wreaking havoc on the economies and lives of entire regions of the world.

Dealing with just one of these issues would be a massive challenge for any business leader. Dealing with all of them at the same time is monumental. And it’s why we are all asking ourselves: Are we resilient enough to deal with what comes next?

Finding our resolve

The good news is that, having successfully navigated the events of the past two years, our resiliency muscles are flexed and getting stronger all the time. When Fortune magazine convened a group of 60 global CEOs in Davos for dinner and a discussion around the challenges facing them in the year ahead, the list was exhaustive, as you would imagine. And yet there was an undeniable sense of assurance from the group. These business leaders have weathered some of the greatest storms of our lifetime and still feel they be able to navigate anything that comes their way.

This theme also came through in a session held by Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla, who described how the pharmaceutical giant managed to accelerate development, production, and distribution of its Covid vaccine at massive scale faster than anyone predicted. His takeaway? If Pfizer could do what no one thought possible this time, they will be able to do it again.

It's remarkable to think about how the collective leadership of the world’s organizations has progressed in the last two years, and how the pandemic strengthened our agility, resolve, and change orientation. That is the heart of resilience.

Yet as the challenges continue to build like a tsunami, our resilience will be tested more and more. If we’re always reacting to calamity and disruption, we risk not having enough time to act strategically to impact the long-range plan. Luckily, there are a few leadership actions we can take to increase our organizations’ odds of weathering the storms.

Resilience should be part of any culture reset

We know that organizations that build innovative cultures are the among the most resilient. For example, in our 2022 Global Leadership Monitor, which surveyed more than 500 C-suite leaders worldwide about organizational health, we found that organizations that have engaged constructively with the opportunities of digital and sustainability are better prepared for economic ups and downs.

It showed that the organizations most likely to be prepared for economic headwinds are:

• 375% more likely to work in a culture that engages constructively with digital failure—and can pivot quickly to test new solutions.
• 154% more likely to say their organization is on pace with peers in adopting digital technologies
• 19% more likely to have a sustainability plan
• 56% more likely to take risks to stay ahead of their competitors

Transforming a business to become more digitally enabled or sustainable is, of course, incredibly hard. And with so many other immediate issues with which to contend, it is easy for these issues to fall down the leadership agenda. But, as our research shows, concentrating on these issues today will be the very thing that ensures your long-term survival tomorrow.

Getting there will require a combination of leadership courage, determination, and resolve. It will require the right strategic decisions and investments at the very top. And it will require a forensic focus on building a workplace culture that embraces innovation as an engine of change.

There are some things I believe are non-negotiable in order to move the needle in this respect:·??

• Carefully manage the composition of your employee base: Ensure that your organization has the right teams in place to manage through disruption and are positioned to “win in the turn.” Organizations that keep investing in their people do better through economic downturns and are able to accelerate out of them.
• Over index on engaging and connecting with employees: This is how you build confidence around the path your organization is on and the role everyone plays in getting you there. As my colleague Jamie Hechinger recently made clear: make sure everyone in the business has the whole story about where your organization is headed. Often the more removed you get from the CEO, the less clarity there can be—particularly in a hybrid environment.
• Focus on empathy: This has always been a critical skill for leaders but, in 2022, it is fundamental, as ongoing crises leave the entire world exhausted. Research shows that when leaders are empathetic, employees say they are more engaged at work and more able to innovate.

Discussing and sharing how we can be strategically and creatively resilient as organizations will be on our minds and meeting agendas for many months to come. I invite you to continue the conversation and share your thoughts on the fundamental question that we cannot afford to avoid asking: Are we resilient enough to deal with what comes next?