Conditions for businesses are increasingly unpredictable. As world orders shift, new technologies like AI are accelerating the pace of change, often in unexpected ways.
It is in this environment that senior management and boards must form the long-term strategies and plans that will decide whether their organisation thrives and prospers, or slips into ignominy.
Our interviews with more than a dozen CFOs, CEOs and board members suggests that geopolitics, capricious consumer preferences and government policy are creating significant uncertainty for businesses trying to pursue long-term strategies, resulting in shorter planning cycles.
The pace of technological change can also make it harder to plan ahead. The long-term economic effects of AI range from utopian to apocalyptic, while the proliferation of data makes it harder to extract signals from the noise.
Key actions
- Long-term business success requires a focus on mission, but also the ability to adapt and separate genuine trends from fleeting fads.
- Effective leadership, especially from CFOs, involves applying instinct when information is incomplete and fostering organisational agility through flexible financial controls.
- The CFO is vital in risk management and decision-making, with AI introducing new, less structured risks than previously seen.
- Reporting must evolve to support quicker decisions under uncertainty, with CFOs increasingly valued for their ability to communicate financial insights to non-specialists.
- Sustainability should be embedded in strategy, viewed as an opportunity as well as a risk, and supported by consistent industry data to address wider challenges.
