The Perfect Storm

Erwin Verstraelen – CDO of the year 2022

For me, the following elements contributing to the storm come to mind:

• Exponential technology growth: This has been going on for some time and leads to disruptive moments such as the emergence of large language models at the end of last year, providing a quantum leap forward in how we use and interact with Artificial intelligence
• Geopolitics.In 2018 focus was on trade sanctions with Russia, trade restrictions under the administration of President Trump and…. Brexit. Compare that with the geopolitical context of today, where we all feel this might just the beginning of something that can become even more volatile. In 2018 globalization was alive and kicking, today friend shoring and deglobalization are heavily debated and we see signs that it’s actually happening
• The poly crisis starting by climate change that triggers an energy crisis, food crisis and water crisis and in trying to stop it a raw material crisis

So how do you deal with this, leave alone how you will transform this massive challenge into an opportunity.

The time has come for more resilience in our companies. I like to call it ‘business continuity whatever happens’. Challenging everything you have come to take for granted and reflect on the simple question: What if it’s no longer there ? How impossible that may sound, it can actually happen. Take for example the digital infrastructure of the company. A successful cyber attack is a plausible scenario, although an obvious one. Have you ever thought about what to do to keep the organization to some extend operational while you try to rebuild the IT platforms and applications ? From my own experience: triggering that kind of questions in the organization is pretty interesting one. The output will prevent panic when it happens. But think further than just cyber: lack of electricity or water are also becoming more and more plausible scenario’s.

However, I see an opportunity to think further, beyond resilience: How to become antifragile. It means that you emerge stronger out of crisis, creating (competitive) advantage against anyone and everyone.

I think Chief digital officers (CDO) are well suited to trigger and be involved in that kind of debate. We tend to see the world in a different way, used to challenge and trigger reflection. So why not lead and make sure you prepare you own organization for an increasingly volatile world. Or as someone once said it: we live in a word of known- unknowns that are going to be associated by a lot of unknown – unknowns.

So antifragile as a positive opportunity to explore. The other option on the table is to have hope. But my dear friends, …. Hope is not a strategy, it never was and it never will be !