A Radical New Way to Deal with Reality Needed

It would be short-sighted to assume that this is a question of leadership upskilling and acquisition of new tools that can be managed through short term measures

- By Vinita S. Sahay

BUSINESSES HAVE A NEW PARADOX to deal with: All-encompassing AI layered over analytics makes such accurate forecasting possible that there is an eerie disbelief about how clearly, we can see what is ahead. At the same time, the world has never been so chaotic, making us utterly foggy in our mind. Tariff upheavals, unrelenting war zones, supply chain disruptions, resource nationalism, spread of extremism and deteriorating climate change have all contributed to spiraling an already VUCA world into a more precarious BANI - Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear and Incomprehensible- state. Businesses have always prioritised the kind of leadership needed to navigate ambiguity. But what we are staring at now is unprecedented by any standards. Consequently, the questions that the corporate world needs to grapple with are as vexatious as they are profound - how will we influence in the age of AI. Which business models can withstand the forces of de-globalisation and protectionism? What do attention-deficient customers want? Why are our workplaces gripped by restlessness? How will investors measure success? Conventional answers are no good.

Given how fragile success looks, the need for a new kind of leadership may look imminent that it can't wait for the talent supply coming organically through academia in general and b-schools in particular. However, it would be rather short-sighted to assume that this is a question of leadership upskilling and acquisition of new tools that can be managed through short term measures.