While the pandemic from March 2020 is behind us, we all have different levels of immune tolerance systems. In 2023, I hope your body and spirit are emerging from difficult years and you will be energized after exploring our website. Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs recently asked to interview me for their podcast called Breaking Boundaries. It is in the top 25% of all podcasts on the platform Buzzsprout, one of the biggest podcast hosting platforms in the world.

The challenge of courageous decision-making can be better understood once we understand how the following six considerations help Western business leaders to adapt to the economic and political environment that is shaping the future:

• Nonwestern cultural norms
• Technological and other skills of Generation Y
• Women as a labor resource
• Continue the expanding role of shareholder interests
• The changes to capitalism in creating entrepreneurs and
• Convergence of values stemming from the growth of democracy.

Looking ahead

In 2023, we will continue to learn from the “wisdom of crowds”, i.e., learning in aggregate what concerns and tensions people have. For example, in December 2022 and for over ten years, Protiviti issued a summary of business risks after surveying 1300 C-Suite executives from various industries. The respondents rank 38 risks from 1 to 10 on the severity and magnitude of the risks. In addition to risks regarding talent and culture requiring agility, a top three risk, paradoxically is the resistance to change to make necessary adjustments to business model/operations is higher than prior years. Leaders are fatigued. Now more than ever, we must be resilient and find sources of personal energy to thrive.