About this keynote
Firstly, thank you to Kevin and Tina at ABRDN, one of the UK’s largest asset managers with over £464 Bn under management (AUM), and OnTrack, one of the UK’s leading leadership and training organisations, for asking me to host a session on the future of technology, trends, and leadership.
During my session we discussed all manner of topics, and took ABRDN’s 300 strong global leadership team and their aspiring young leaders through a tour of the possible and probable futures they’ll all one day experience and have to adapt to. From the speed of disruption and global technological change, and their impact on global business, culture, and society, to in depth dives into the breadth of change and its impact on ABRDN’s investment strategies and vectors, we discussed a great many topics. Then we headed out to Q&A.
Today, we live in arguably the most complex times any of us have ever experienced, and as the world lurches from one crisis to another it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this year the UK’s Collins English Dictionary coined a new word, ‘Permacrisis’, as the word of the year. And, as we look ahead to the new year things are set to become even more uncertain as organisations face the prospect of increased geopolitical unrest, raging inflation, stuttering supply chains, war, and the ever-present threat of a resurgent pandemic.
With all of this uncertainty, and against the backdrop of our so called VUCA world, it’s no surprise therefore that many of today’s leaders suffer from analysis paralysis, so in this session, and even though leaders only directly control around 45 percent of what happens to and within their organisation, I showed them how they can see it, understand it, and thrive from it.
