Six challenges we’ll be addressing in The Second Sixty

Six challenges we’ll be addressing in The Second Sixty

Sustaining business growth while respecting the climate, harnessing tech transformations, adapting to increased automation, navigating political instability, cultivating ethical leadership and driving innovation. These are significant global challenges facing the world of business.

So, how can leaders prepare, and how is London Business School’s (LBS) community working to tackle these challenges?

This year, LBS is marking its 60th anniversary, celebrating six decades of excellence in business education and looking ahead to The Second Sixty.

Originally known as the London Graduate School of Business with just 36 students, LBS has grown to offer 11 degree programmes across London and Dubai campuses, reaching over 12,000 participants annually through Executive Education programmes and online courses.

As the School celebrates its past and looks towards the next sixty years, its world-class faculty, alumni, students and staff will explore six global challenges that businesses and society are likely to face in The Second Sixty. 

Sustaining business growth amidst global climate and resource crises

Businesses must transform from being a drain on planetary resources to sustainable innovators. To meet sustainability targets and increasing consumer expectations, businesses will need to balance growth with the demands of a rapidly changing climate and resource challenges. This includes tackling resource depletion and shifting to a circular economy.

New sustainability reporting requirements will also affect businesses of all sizes. Various parts of the world have new reporting standards, and companies can no longer ignore these. Those who shift from a mindset that treats sustainability reporting purely as a compulsory add-on to one that views it as an opportunity to innovate through new products and services stand to gain a real competitive advantage.

From sustainable finance, ESG issues, and renewable energy to the green skills gap and sustainable innovation, we’ll look at the strategies businesses can adopt and the leadership needed to rise to this pressing challenge.

Harnessing global tech transformation for a sustainable and equitable future

During the previous wave of AI transformation, Big Tech firms, including Google, Amazon and Netflix, rewrote their strategy playbooks by focusing on deep learning and Large Language Models. Then, in December 2022, OpenAI released its latest AI chatbot, ChatGPT, to great acclaim.

Generative AI has immense transformative potential, but we have yet to see its widespread integration into business strategy.

Leaders must address this challenge now if they are to remain competitive in the decades ahead. They must focus on cultivating new business models that harness tech advancements, going beyond simply using technology as a bolt-on and redesigning strategy from the ground up.

We’ll take a closer look at how businesses can harness technological advances to ensure equitable growth and sustainability over the next 60 years.

Adapting careers to the shifting global landscape of an ageing population and automation

As the population in many parts of the world grows older, technology gets newer and has an outsize impact on people’s lives. With automation and AI continuing to reshape career paths and skillsets, businesses must support and adapt to changing workforce needs.

Navigating the fundamental shift in where, how (and, indeed why) we work will require thoughtful investment in reskilling initiatives, equitable employment policies and greater flexibility in work arrangements and benefits – all while ensuring competitiveness and meeting stakeholder expectations in an increasingly technology-driven economy.

From human sustainability, upskilling and career longevity to redesigning work for a flexible future, we’ll look at the practicalities involved and how businesses can make this shift.

Navigating global economic and political instability in an era of uncertainty

An ancient Chinese curse says, “May you live in interesting times,” and there is no doubt that we live in such times today. From Donald Trump’s threat to impose swingeing trade tariffs in his second term of office to war and conflicts in Ukraine, Africa and the Middle East, geopolitical uncertainty is the greatest concern for businesses with a global footprint.

In the coming decades, business will play a critical role in addressing risks to the stability of global economies and financial systems. But what steps can leaders take to mitigate risks arising from economic and political uncertainty over the next 60 years, and how should they prepare for a world increasingly affected by cross-border challenges?

We’ll approach this global challenge from numerous angles, from future-proofing businesses and supply chains to navigating unforeseen events.

Cultivating ethical leadership to build trust in a complex global environment

Building solid relationships between leaders and the workforce will be key to managing the wholesale transitions necessary in the years ahead. This will ensure that employees are confident in embracing new technologies and ways of working.

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. In business, it starts with ethical leadership, fostering integrity and a strong organisational culture to navigate ethical dilemmas and ensure diversity and accountability.

Additionally, societies are increasingly intolerant of unethical decision-making by power elites, corruption and authoritarianism. Businesses must support equality and shared prosperity goals to maintain social stability and avoid consumer backlash.

What are the practicalities of building trust and retaining a motivated and productive workforce as we shift to fundamentally different ways of doing things? And how can leaders best ensure they’re leading with ethics in an ever-changing and complex global environment?

We’ll explore how businesses can maintain and embed ethical leadership, from building and leading diverse organisations to adapting to demographic shifts and changing societal values.

Driving innovation and agility to thrive in a fragmented global economy

The confluence of wars and conflicts, potential trade wars, economic uncertainty, and fluctuating market conditions is creating challenges for businesses that can seem overwhelming.

Organisations must develop the capacity to respond proactively to these disruptions to survive and adapt. This means building resilience – the ability to deal with the unexpected and pivot quickly when conditions dictate – into the foundations of the business.

Businesses need to harness innovation and agile strategies to compete in increasingly unpredictable and interconnected global markets.

From delivering agile innovation and strategies for the future of finance to leveraging technology for competitive advantage, we’ll examine how businesses can navigate the evolving challenges of the global economy and grow in the coming decades.

 

The Second Sixty in 60 seconds