In 2009 in the period immediately following the global financial crisis, University Colleges Australia (then AHAUCHI) held a breakthrough conference on the future of educational spaces and the role of colleges in Australia. It was an impressive program that brought together different voices and perspectives.
A handful of speakers were interviewed ahead of the conference to get delegates thinking ahead of time. One of those interviews was with Todd Davies on the topic of Risk and Responsibility. This was around the time of Todd’s speaking tour of the US East Coast on black swan risks bigger than the GFC.
This recording from the winter of 2019 weeks prior to the conference covers a lot of ground, including:
- Foresight and strategic capabilities in successful organisations
- Predictions on systemic risk and systemic risk regulators
- Predictions on director liability and the impact on the broader Director pool
- A somewhat absurd amount of name dropping.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the clear-eyed view some 10 years ago on a range of things including on how they would manifest. Many of which are in play in 2019.
As an archive piece it’s also interesting to hear some terms being coined in real time that are now part of every day frameworks and standards, including throw-away remarks on systemic risk regulators, predictions on their success and failure, the not then much used phrase of intellectual diversity on boards, predictions on director class actions and hearing Todd attempt to define strategic risk mid-sentence in the absence of a defined framework at the time.
It’s raw, unedited, unscripted and dense making for an interesting listen. You might even find yourself asking yourself “did he really say that?” and hitting rewind.
Why are we sharing this?
We are in one of the most interesting times to ever been alive. Pace and scale is important but isn’t always apparent at the time, particularly when on the flat part of an exponential curve.
Our view is that foresight on strategic risk is possible and some of our archival materials help illustrate this even during our formative thinking and approach.
It’s also good to be on the record when predicting emerging material business risks (now commonly known as grey rhinos), many of which are mainstreaming at scale in 2020.
The key question for leaders is whether their organisations have sufficient strategic foresight and change capability in place. And with sufficient scale and pace is now a core competency to survive and thrive.
We can help. Have a listen to understand the topic better and then contact us to find out more.
Enjoy.