How CEOs can prepare for the unpredictable

Building your organization’s agility to meet unknown new challenges means exploring the outer boundaries of what’s next.

Imagine walking through an airport without showing any documents, or having all the power your building needs provided by battery. Jeff Wong, EY Global Chief Innovation Officer, Christina Lampe-Önnerud, Founder and CEO, Cadenza Innovation and Bento Correia, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Vision-Box, talk about how these concepts are becoming a reality and how CEOs can prepare for the future.

Technologies like AI are solving business problems, augmenting humans and making them more powerful, more efficient and more effective, and the ROI is evident. Companies around the world are going to have to invest just to maintain competitiveness. In fact, 87% of CEOs and business leaders said they are investing in AI initiatives this year. While we can’t predict the problems of the future and see the unforeseeable, this kind of technological disruption is making us better, faster, stronger and is equipping us to tackle unknown challenges.

Successful entrepreneurs live, lead and work as if the future is happening now. By seeing around corners, business leaders can anticipate how rapid growth, market changes, technology advancements or competitive advantages can create a ripple effect, impacting organizations’ bottom line and disrupting entire industries. Anticipating potential challenges while also being able to adapt to rapid and repeated change is no longer a long-term ambition. It is a short-term necessity.

To prepare for the unpredictable, CEOs should focus on:

1.  Maintaining a competitive advantage

CEOs must invest time in talking to innovators outside their industry and understand the challenges facing their businesses and the opportunities that may lie ahead.

2.  Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

CEOs need to find ways to bring the public, private and academic spheres together to realize the full potential of technology and prepare talent for the opportunities unearthed in the process.

3.  Bring diverse views into the decision-making rooms

Diversity of thought, experience, age, gender and background are essential for finding new solutions to existing problems and anticipating future challenges.