Periodic musings
The dream of global expansion has fundamentally shifted. That "low-cost, high-speed" playbook of the past decade has been replaced by one with a focus on the "high-resilience, high-compliance" reality. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the barriers to entry are no longer limited to finding a distributor of a local salesperson; those barriers include navigating a fragmented geopolitical landscape and meeting rigorous new digital and ethical standards.
Read MoreThis week reinforces that boards are being evaluated less on intent and more on demonstrable governance discipline - independence, documented process, and evidence that the board is actively engaged.
Read MoreGovernance is moving from “compliance and disclosure” to “demonstrable judgment and process.”
Across regions and topics this week, the signal is consistent:
Boards and leadership teams are no longer evaluated primarily on what they say or disclose — but on how decisions are made, challenged, documented, and governed.
Whether the issue is proxy advisors, executive pay, AI adoption, ESG reporting, or board composition, regulators, courts, investors, and stakeholders are converging on one expectation:
Read MoreShow us the process. Show us the oversight. Show us the judgment.
In boardrooms from Washington to Brussels to Tokyo, the governance story this week is about tension and convergence.
Tension: The EU is scaling back the reach of its sustainability and due diligence rules, while the US is turning up the political heat on proxy advisors over ESG and DEI. At first glance, it looks like a retreat from “peak ESG.”
Convergence: At the same time, cyber and AI are becoming explicit board-level responsibilities; African and South African codes are hard-wiring sustainability into governance; and investors are more vocal than ever on executive pay and board accountability.
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