Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Emerge Stronger”
Fifty years ago, on September 13, 1970, the New York Times published an essay advocating that regardless of a company’s impacts on people, communities, or the planet, shareholders’ interests must come first. Half a century later, we’re reaping the results: racial injustice, deep economic crises, and an existential climate emergency. As the Times itself said on Sunday, “It was the …
Doubling down on business as usual is an understandable reaction in a crisis. Some see it as a noble way to weather the storm. The orchestra playing on the Titanic in the midst of chaos is celebrated, even legendary. We are told that leaders should act this way, even when it’s an irrational or excessively risky strategy, because… that’s what …
The global pandemic continues to unfold around the world, showing us the fragility of economies, social systems, and even ourselves. As we think about how we might ‘emerge stronger’ and ‘build back better,’ many of us are calling for recovery planning to carry us into a purpose-led, 21st century economy. We know now, beyond doubt, that businesses that put social …
This has been one of those stare-at-the-keyboard days. When there are so many things to get done, it’s hard to know where to start. Climate. COVID-19. Black Lives Matter. Each of them an impossibly enormous challenge, demanding each of us to act. But what does it mean to take meaningful action, as one individual? Even as one company? Taken alone, …
When I was a kid, my favourite toy cars were those with a pull-back motor in them. I used to love to point them in a particular direction, wind them up and let them go. The speed as the spring uncoiled was a rush! But what I really loved was when they went precisely where I aimed them. If they …
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasingly complex interplay of systemic challenges around the world was touching all of us—in all aspects of our lives. One thing that’s being revealed to us now is the once in a lifetime chance to reimagine how we think about our work—to embrace next economy thinking. At the organizational level, a strong project skillset …
For each of us running organizations, this is a profoundly difficult time. Some of us are lucky to be able to keep working as usual; others have a very different daily rhythm. Others still can’t operate at all, closing their premises and furloughing their staff. If you can’t work in your business, perhaps you can still work on it. From …
It’s a very risky proposition to stake the future of your organization on a return to “business as usual” by the end of 2020. Most of the assumptions that underpinned three- or five-year strategic plans at the time of their writing have been upended so fast that we’re seeing clients in various stages of crisis planning this week. Pandemics—or any …
Over the past week, as international responses to the global COVID-19 emergency have escalated and become more urgent, we’ve been in conversation with our clients, partners, colleagues and others about the confusion, uncertainty, and fear so many of us are feeling. In this time of deep vulnerability, we are each confronting our fragility. Each passing day has brought more bad …
