The Leader’s Toolkit for Adapting to Economic Crises and Uncertainty

With the world continuing to reel from geopolitical destabilization and deepening economic crises, organizations must be prepared to nimbly navigate the current state of global uncertainty. From pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and ever-changing geopolitics to record inflation and soaring energy costs, it’s vital for leaders to be able to embrace uncertainty, adapt quickly and build organizational resilience.

To help navigate the unprecedented economic challenges and uncertainty of our time, discover below the world’s top researchers, practitioners and advisors who can help your organization adapt and set a clear path toward growth in 2023.

Nicholas Bloom: Businesses Must Be Prepared for Economic Uncertainty

Research on global economic trends and fiscal decisions around management practices and workplace models – particularly in times of uncertainty – is more important than ever according to Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom. With more than a decade of studying the economic impacts of remote work on businesses, industries and society, he has an unrivaled grasp of workplace trends, global economics and the effects of these shocks on organizations and workers. You’ll appreciate his monthly insights into what real-life organizations are doing to navigate uncertainty.

Lynn Perry Wooten: How to Emerge from Crisis a Better Organization

President of Simmons University, Lynn Perry Wooten is a crisis leadership expert. When unforeseen crises happen, her work teaches leaders how to make effective, strategic decisions and see everyday crises as learning opportunities. Rather than just putting out fires, Wooten focuses on the positive side of crisis management, asking, “how do we get better as opposed to simply surviving a crisis?” Her new book, “The Prepared Leader: Emerge from any Crisis More Resilient than Before,” provides tools and frameworks for addressing and learning from crises, helping leaders better prepare themselves for whatever lies around the corner.

Daniel Yergin: The Future of Energy in the New World Economy

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Vice Chairman of S&P Global Daniel Yergin, the world’s preeminent authority on energy, geopolitics and the global economy, explores how great changes in international politics, technology and the environment will reshape the world and drive us into the future. Author of the highly praised book, “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations” (2021), he outlines the conflicting choices and visions for the world economy, identifies key risks and opportunities, and addresses what the great battle over globalization is all about.

Paul Romer: The Deep Structure of Economic Growth

Nobel Laureate economist Paul Romer, a professor of economics and law at New York University and a former chief economist at the World Bank, is a world-renowned authority on leveraging technology and innovation to drive long-term growth. According to Romer, temporary recessions of the global economy seem to be inevitable, but unlimited growth is possible in a world with finite resources. To explain how both domestic and international markets and policy shape the economy, Romer studies the current state of the global economy, what has led us to the status quo, and how the United States and the rest of world can select a path of economic growth long into the future.

Angela Stent: Russia Against the West and With the Rest

Angela Stent, Ph.D., is widely regarded as among the leading experts on Russia, its foreign policies, and how they affect the rest of the world. A Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Stent has a body of work nobody can hold a candle to – including “From Embargo to Ostpolitik,” “Russia and Germany Reborn,” “The Limits of Partnership,” and most recently, the award-winning, “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest” (2019). Informed by decades of deep scholarship into Russia’s history, goals, and motivations, Stent delivers accurate projections for Russia’s future, helping leaders prepare for what seem like erratic political, economic, and military dynamics. 

Rawi Abdelal: Global Geopolitical Conflicts and Market Disruptions Have Far-Reaching Impacts

An award-winning professor of international management at Harvard Business School and former director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, Rawi Abdelal is one of the world’s most respected authorities on the impacts of geopolitical changes on businesses, economies, supply chains and social structures. His views on Russia’s war against Ukraine are particularly urgent and timely. He helps business and government leaders better interpret and deal with trends affecting their organizations so they can respond in ways that bring about positive change for economies, employees, and customers.

Nathan Furr: Learning How to Turn Uncertainty to Possibility

Professor of leadership, strategy, digital transformation and disruptive innovation at INSEAD, Nathan Furr has emerged as one of the world’s foremost experts on managing uncertainty. Co-author of the timely new book, “The Upside of Uncertainty” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022), he helps organizations grow by teaching leaders customized tools, frameworks, and strategies that help them rethink and “invent” a future when faced with unexpected or unanticipated changes.

Anne-Marie Slaughter: Understanding the Dynamics of Our New World

What does Russia’s attack on Ukraine mean for the US, the EU, Russia, China, India and the Middle East, and what role can corporate and government leaders play in protecting democratic ways of governing and doing business? New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter – a global authority on foreign policy and leadership, former dean of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and author of “Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics” (2021) – looks at the invasion of Ukraine through traditional geopolitical lenses, explaining how shifting power dynamics will impact economic and political stability across the world.

Willy Shih: Supply Chain Management: U.S., China & the New World of Globalization

Product shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic elevated the importance of and threats to supply chains. They also prompted many questions about the inner workings of global manufacturing and distribution processes. Harvard Business School Professor Willy Shih, a world-renowned expert on global supply chain management and organizational change, helps leaders understand modern global supply chain complexities and interdependencies, the “supply shock” followed by the “demand shock” that occurred during the pandemic, and the many forces impacting the future of supply chains, including the subsequent surge in Chinese exports.

Gianpiero Petriglieri, M.D.: When Facing Today’s Uncertainty, Leading with Care is Vital

Despite executives’ best efforts to create visions of transformation, many strategic initiatives fail to move from intention to reality. To be skillful cultural conductors, says leadership expert and INSEAD Professor of Organizational Behavior Gianpiero Petriglieri (JAN-pyer-oh PET-ree-glee-air-ee), leaders need to be visionaries who will embody a new vision, bring a new culture to life, and align people, as well as connectors who will build bonds of clarity and trust, freeing people to thrive in the new culture. His interactive presentations illuminate a blueprint for achieving transformational leadership.

In a time of unprecedented economic crises and uncertainty in the business world, Stern Strategy Group connects you with renowned thought leaders whose insights, strategies and management frameworks help organizations fuel growth and disruptive innovation to better compete in a constantly changing world. Let us arrange for these esteemed experts to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting sessions, workshops and keynotes.