As turbulence spikes, learn how to spot patterns and develop options ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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Business leaders are well aware that we’re living through the most intense period of disruption and uncertainty in decades. Macro challenges ranging from geopolitical instability to inflation to rapid technological advances are just the start of an ever-expanding list of structural forces that will upend the competitive landscape. The uncertainty wrought by these changes will require companies to increase their Future Sensing capabilities. | |
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Because the structural forces mentioned above will vary widely in impact based on a company’s industry, region, and other factors, leaders will soon find themselves operating in a multispeed world with different trends accelerating at different rates and combining with one another to profoundly alter how companies operate. | Those trends include: |
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| Artificial intelligence—power and peril: AI and Generative AI are transforming work but also presenting ethical, regulatory, and social challenges. |
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| The dual challenge of decarbonization and energy provision: Despite progress on decarbonization, economic growth and the energy required to fuel it will threaten current climate targets, putting greater emphasis on physical and financial resilience. |
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| Post-globalization: The emergence of a new global order will engender more domestic and international tensions, including potential cyber and space conflicts and regulatory and trade battles. |
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| Capital rationalization: A variety of factors will lead to a structurally more inflationary environment and higher real interest rates in many markets. |
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| Re-humanizing work: Employees will seek more customized and meaningful experiences at work to match an increasingly diverse set of motivations they bring to their jobs. |
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| Waving goodbye to the invisible hand: Businesses will face increasing and often competing demands from more activist governments and stakeholders. |
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| Twin focus on bytes and bricks: Technology promises increasing abundance but rests on a physical foundation that is under increasing strain. |
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| Seeking community among fragmented experiences: Already-fragmented consumers are diverging further as technology advances; the inherent desire for community remains strong but will be met more locally than globally. |
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This list is not exhaustive, and no one can say with certainty how any of these trends will evolve, let alone influence one another. But companies that take the right approach to future sensing will be able to anticipate and plan for these changes and mitigate the effects of whatever other surprises may be coming. |
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