Hari Mann, Leah Henderson

No prizes for correctly guessing the biggest geopolitical event that’s taking place next year. In January, the Trump administration will come back into power in the US. And in one of his first moves, the president-elect appointed billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. A first of its kind, the purpose of the new advisory body will be to maximize productivity and efficiency in federal government.

“I think organizations will look at this and think, ‘If big governments can do this, maybe we need to look more at our own productivity,’” says Hari Mann, Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Hult International Business School and Dean of Hult Ashridge Executive Education. That could spark significant internal re-evaluations to drive growth, whether through strategic processes, organizational design, or leadership. And while this plays out very obviously in the US, Mann says we’re actually seeing this sort of reforming agenda worldwide. “If you look at governments today, one challenge they share is they don't have enough money, so productivity is going to be really important.” 

The re-election and response to a figure as polarizing as Donald Trump is indicative of the increasing polarization we’re seeing in politics around the world. This is particularly true in the west, where we’re seeing a so-called ‘anti-woke’ trend as right-wing groups gain more traction. And in the business world, this is manifesting in a backlash against DEIB agendas. Just last month, we saw Walmart go back on its DEIB initiatives, sparking commentary on a possible move from DEIB to MEI (merit, excellence and intelligence).

But on the other hand, Mann says we may end up seeing a doubling down on DEIB efforts in response to this backlash: “There could actually be a renewed focus and sense of purpose in how we embrace and push for diversity and inclusion, almost as if people are trying to tip the balance.” In any re-evaluation of how DEIB is talked about, organizations need to stay connected to their purpose and be values-led in their approach, so it remains an important part of the corporate agenda. 

While AI isn’t new, we’re still experiencing it as a ‘live’ revolution and will continue to for decades. The innovations get more advanced, the opportunities get bigger, the challenges get more difficult – and they’re all coming at us on a conveyor belt that’s only getting faster.

This means learning to work with AI in an evolutionary way: evolving your organizational response as the tech evolves. But if it isn’t treated holistically, AI poses a risk to our sense of value in the organization and even to our sense of personal identity – leading to disillusionment and disengagement. So simultaneously, leaders have to be ready to mitigate people’s fear and other emotional responses to the technology by creating ethical AI cultures.

On one hand, we’re seeing enormous changes as certain regions repivot their industrial strategy. “In a country like Saudi Arabia, 90% of its skills that were in oil and gas are now in tourism as it transits its economy,” explains Mann. Naturally, this results in a huge amount of reskilling. But there’s more going on behind the redefinition of sustainability skills. Because as sustainability strategies have become more sophisticated, the L&D need has evolved too.

“It’s not about the technical aspects anymore,” says Mann. “It's about how we implement the technology as leaders. And the important part of that is you need to be able to influence. You need to be able to communicate your message clearly. And you need to be able to bring change about with everyone in the organization.” These are all human-centered skills of the relational leadership that we champion at Hult Ashridge.