Governance

Board series: Armed conflict in the boardroom: Planning for a year of geopolitical flashpoints

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In 2026, geopolitics no longer simmers in the backdrop; instead, it should be considered a design constraint for growth, capital allocation, and operational continuity. As opposed to thinking about which conflict is most likely to erupt, leaders will have to understand which stack of pressures will compound fast enough to break our assumptions. The World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Risks Perceptions Survey puts geoeconomic confrontation (e.g., tariffs, investment restrictions, resource leverage) as the top short-term risk, now overtaking armed conflict. The central question worth exploring – can your firm absorb shocks without halting growth?

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Board series: The Board Chair of 2026 – From strategy steward to enterprise risk integrator

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As corporate complexity multiplies into 2026, the board chair will have to grapple with the upheaval on the corporate landscape. Historically centered on governance stewardship, strategic guidance, and CEO partnership, the chair is increasingly becoming the architect of enterprise risk governance and – in real-time – the chief navigator for continuous strategic revision.

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Policy Briefing: Shifts in the SEC’s shareholder proposal process — Follow changes to 14a-8 enforcement

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In November 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance announced a significant change to how it will handle Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposal exclusions for the 2025-2026 proxy season. Rather than providing substantive no-action responses on most exclusion requests, the Division will largely step back from evaluating whether companies can exclude shareholder proposals. In turn, this leaves companies and proponents to navigate more uncertainty and shifting responsibilities in the proxy process.

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Policy Briefing: The Proxy Power Shift – What the new Executive Order means for boards

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In December 2025, the U.S. administration issued a sweeping Executive Order (EO) directing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Labor (DoL), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to significantly increase scrutiny of proxy advisory firms, most notably Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, which together influence the vast majority of proxy votes at U.S. public companies. While the order does not immediately change proxy rules, it initiates a multi-agency regulatory process that could materially reshape shareholder voting dynamics, ESG and DEI proposal outcomes, and how boards engage investors ahead of the 2026 proxy season and beyond.

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The kitchen sink committee – AI, Cyber, ESG, and now, tariffs. Are Audit Committees ready?

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Audit committees have long been the mandated nexus of corporate financial reporting, internal controls, and risk management. Even though these committees face a full slate of topical oversight and compliance – financial, internal audit, AI, cyber, ESG, Sustainability, DEI – 2025 has also brought forward a new suite of risks. Namely, trade and tariffs, and geopolitical conflict. With so much responsibility across a broad spectrum of issues, have audit committees become the “kitchen sink” of corporate boards?

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Board series: Will your next board member be an AI agent?

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Over the last two years, the AI conversation in boardrooms has shifted from “What is this?” to “How can we best deploy?” The next wave for early adopters is to advocate for including AI agents as de facto members of the board – embedded in the board portal, continuously scanning risk, proposing agenda items, and generating draft resolutions. For large multinationals, the question is no longer whether AI will set in the boardroom – it already does. The question becomes, how far should boards go in treating AI systems as quasi-members of the governance team? And, what does it mean for fiduciary duty, legal liability, and board dynamics?

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Board series: Markets moving faster than board skills – Facing the hard reality of AI, ESG, supply chain, and cyber

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In the next decade, the most competitive companies will be governed not by the most prestigious resumes, but by boards engineered for complexity. U.S. boardrooms are re-skilling under pressure from four converging forces: (i) AI deployment and risk, (ii) supply chain and ESG regulation that reaches deep into suppliers, (iii) increasing geopolitical tensions, and (iv) heightened investor scrutiny of board capability, disclosure, and refreshment. In 2025 and beyond, governance sophistication is no longer optional – it is a determinant of market value, stakeholder trust, and competitiveness.

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Board series: The state of the global energy transition – What the close of 2025 signals for 2026

Leave a Comment / Energy Transition & Sustainability, Governance, Insights, Real Estate Brief /

Large multinationals are moving from pledges to procurement and projects — locking in long-dated clean power contracts, electrifying heat and fleets, re-tooling supply chains, and backing carbon removal. More broadly, the global energy transition to renewable technologies remains intact, but uneven. Global energy investment will reach $3.3 trillion USD in 2025, with $2.2 trillion being invested in renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency, and electrification (which stands at 2x fossil investment). On a dual-track energy system — adding clean energy capacity without fully displacing fossil fuels — China, the EU, India, and the U.S. continue to drive most of the additions.

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Board series: Self-driving supply chains – How AI is reshaping multinational operations for resilience, agility, and profitability

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Geopolitical volatility, shifting trade policies, and rising tariffs are redefining supply chain risk. More than ever, agility and transparency raise to the top of board and management’s priorities. Generative artificial intelligence offers powerful tools—predictive insights, scenario modeling, and real-time visibility—that can help enterprises anticipate shocks, ensure compliance, and sustain continuity. Moreover, agentic AI will allow companies to deploy “self-driving” supply chains to hasten decision-making and realize greater benefits of timeliness, cost-containment, and more. The challenge for directors is not whether to adopt AI, but how to govern its integration: ensuring management has the data infrastructure, talent, and oversight to capture value.

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Board series: Entering the Quantum Economy – What boards need to know in 2025

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Quantum computing is moving fast from theoretical promise to boardroom strategy. With venture funding topping $2.6 billion globally in 2024, of which $1.7 billion went to U.S. companies, U.S. multinationals are launching quantum pilots and assessing their risks to encryption threats. Whether it’s big tech, pharmaceutical, or energy, if fully commercialized, analysts estimate a $2 trillion economic impact by 2035. Can your organization gain the quantum advantage?

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