Insights & Articles

Digitization on Boards 5th Edition

Wed, 31 May 2023 10:40:00 Z

Many organizations have pursued large-scale digital transformation in the past years, but still haven’t seen the expected impact on revenue or costs. Having observed a number of missteps made by the leaders of these organizations, we can identify what they have not done well.

These organizations are now under even more pressure to make consequential business decisions, not only at a faster pace but also in business areas where they may have no previous digitization or tech investment experience. While many of the traditional challenges to digital transformation are still here, new factors have emerged that are key to opening doors for value creation today and going forward.

We work with top-performing companies who have done it differently and share their successes with you in our new report below!

Energy Transition

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 12:00:00 Z

Strategies and Insights from the C-suite

The Paris Agreement brought the imperative for the energy transition to a head. Following the first tentative steps by governments and companies, we are now on the eve of a largescale movement. The need for change is clear, making the switch to sustainable energy sources less and less of a choice, and we have passed the tipping point. Sustainability has moved from small-scale, experimental CSR measures into new ways of doing business - and new revenue models

Wise Decision Making | Managing Paradoxes

Mon, 31 May 2021 12:00:00 Z

From Tension to Transformation:

How Wise Decision-makers Transcend Paradoxes & Ambiguity

Wise leaders skillfully integrate diverse and opposing ideas.This paradox mindset, engrained in a corporate culture of “contextual ambidexterity”, facilitates a whole new perspective. It breaks free of prioritizing either/or choices. When organizations are directed beyond zero-sum calculations towards a form of synthesis, this often results in a competitive advantage because of its unique dynamic and “system” approach.

Amrop Digitization On Boards

Tue, 25 May 2021 10:05:00 Z

The Keys to High Performance

In a world where digital transformation is increasingly a make or break factor, your organization may not yet have a clear digital strategy and technology implementation plan in place. It may have had to deal with one or more cybersecurity breaches. It may even be struggling to survive. Whatever your current status or ambitions, we invite you to read along. In our report you will discover what successful digital executives and their High Performing Organizations are doing better. We drill down into their specific competencies to highlight the areas in which these leaders are significantly stronger. And we’ll also look at areas where even HPO leaders, and their wider organizations, can do better in a complex environment, where digital executives and their boards can focus — and win.

Amrop Talent Observatory

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:00:00 Z

What is clear:

Hiring organizations must now strike a careful balance

What motivates leaders to join one kind of organization, and avoid another? What are their deeper criteria for career decisions? What sources are they using to ‘audit’ potential employers, and what are their attitudes to the use of AI in the hiring process? What factors are fueling executive departures and how have recent global events affected their confidence in making a career move?

To find out, we personally approached executives from across the world who had recently been shortlisted for a senior position with a hiring organization. As such, they were in a reflective and ‘organization-assessing’ state of mind.

Amrop Sustainable Leadership Assessment

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 12:00:00 Z

Disconnected Data:

The Case for Wisdom in Leadership Assessment

Leadership assessment sits at the very heart of the talent management landscape It is extensively (and enthusiastically) deployed by executive search firms and organizations. Yet it is in this domain that shortfalls in leadership talent strategy are most starkly reflected. The need for ‘wise’ leadership in business has never been stronger. Today a more ethical, responsible and sustainable approach is in universal demand; not only by shareholders - for example, when it comes to meeting ESG criteria or SDG - but by the wider stakeholder community.

Cyber Security

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 12:00:00 Z

Data Privacy:

How Boards Can Safeguard Digital Assets Today For Success Tomorrow

Cyber continues to dominate headlines - and rightly so. Not only is the topic wide-ranging, but cyber attacks are mushrooming daily, unconstrained by geographic or sectoral borders. Like so many of today’s business issues, human decision-making and behavior lie at the heart of the problem.

How can companies develop digital offerings without inviting the real threat of cyber risks? Beyond the numbers, how much insight do boards really have? Within board governance, what data governance structures are needed?

These are just some of the questions that inhabit the cyber security landscape. In this article, Amrop breaks the subject into bite-size portions. We dive into the fast-evolving world of privacy engineering – the tools, technologies and processes that can be used to enforce privacy policies to deliver the principles of privacy by design,
considering privacy risk throughout the entire data life cycle.

Make Or Break Transition Coaching

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 12:00:00 Z

Why transition coaching is critical for incoming executives

Whether you are a senior executive facing your first months in a critical role, or a key internal stakeholder in an incoming leader’s transition process, Amrop invites you to explore the emotional landscape facing every new entrant, and discover some keys to its successful navigation.

A transformational learning process is critical to enable executives to challenge the ways in which they traditionally proceeded.

Creating Cultures

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 12:00:00 Z

Interview with Professor Mark Lowdell

In this interview we speak with Professor Mark Lowdell, an expert in the field of Immunotherapy, the treatment of cancers and other diseases using substances that stimulate or suppress the immune system. Immunotherapy, a type of Cell and Gene Therapy, is a rapidly emerging field currently transitioning into the realm of mainstream pharmaceuticals. The backdrop is an emerging scientific and commercial market, where the push and pull of both sides of the union create truly unique challenges for trailblazing leaders

COVID-19 An Industrial Evolution

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 12:00:00 Z

CEO Interview with Arndt G. Kirchhoff

In a new world marked by COVID-19, industry is facing unprecedented pressure from all sides to maintain production, job stability and wealth creation. Politically and socially that pressure often takes on a protectionist, national focus. But for some leaders this is the moment to reinforce the progress made by globalization in recent decades. KIRCHHOFF is a family-owned multinational founded in 18th century Germany, whose business, with 13 000 employees, is spread across 60 production plants and facilities in 5 continents and 21 countries. KIRCHHOFF Automotive, its largest business unit, is a world-leading supplier of the vehicle manufacturing industries. Amrop spoke with CEO Arndt G. Kirchhoff about his practical and optimistic perspective on productive life during and after lockdown.

What Really Counts In Digital Leadership

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 12:00:00 Z

A New Model For Digital Competencies

To say that many non-tech organizations are struggling with digitization is probably an understatement. The quest to implement digital strategies at the right time, with the right results, is a huge task. It demands exceptional leaders, people who are first and foremost bridgebuilders, fluent not just in digital engineering, but in strategy engineering.

This duality is a core problem and leads into a big question for non-tech organizations: defining a clear profile for CIOs, CDOs and their equivalents. At the highest level, what is the purpose of digitization? What organizational domains should it serve? How can we drill all of this down into to a clear and coherent set of competencies? Ultimately, what really matters in digital leadership?

New Adventurous Leadership 2

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 12:00:00 Z

Business Modernism

The coronavirus crisis has brought us closer to ‘Business Modernism’, showing us that organizations need a new breed of adventurous leader who can develop a new interface between people and technology. This report follows up since the previous publication “New Adventurous Leadership” and explores 5 megatrends that will continue to drive the future:

Three Technologies will be dominant from a business model perspective
Ecosystem Economy will wipe out the 20th century’s business models
Power of the Crowd will give business direct access to funding and talent
Economies of Unscale challenges the industrial ideology that bigger is better
New Globalism will eventually replace 30 years of centralized hyper-globalization

Latin American Board-Ready Women

Mon, 25 May 2020 12:00:00 Z

A Win-Win For Global Boards?

The best global Boards understand the importance of reflecting their organization’s diversity; their employees, consumers, shareholders and their wider communities. Diversity gives a voice to the needs of key stakeholder groups. It improves the chances of avoiding thinking errors and bias. And it improves performance.

In a nutshell, diversity leads to robust discussions, decisions and outcomes. Diversity is not only
societally healthy and morally equitable, it brings business results. Gender diversity in particular is positively associated with enhanced financial value, improved CSR ratings, and ethics. This also means that, at the highest level, diversity supports wise decision-making (ethical, responsible and sustainable).

Board Evaluation

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 12:00:00 Z

Board Evaluation: A Shareholders Guide

Supervisory and Executive Boards must act in the interests of their shareholders. Not exclusively, but sustainably. How can the owners of a company go about evaluating their highest representatives and their achievements? On what criteria should Boards expect to be evaluated, and self-evaluate? Financial results aside, this article focusses on the evaluation criteria we can find within two dimensions – material and human. Viewed systemically, these dimensions are closely interconnected. And they mutually affect each other.

Wise Decision Making & AI 3

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 12:00:00 Z

Behind the Scenes of the Machines:

What lies ahead for Artificial General Intelligence?

Neural networks, inspired by our brain’s architecture, are scoring spectacular successes in gaming and pattern recognition. If you’re an iPhone X or advanced Android user, you’ll already find it pretty normal that the device can actually identify your face. This is just one example of ‘principal component analysis’ – using data to classify people, rather than human preconceptions. And thanks to machine learning, (self- or deep learning), computers are getting smarter by the day. Is AI set to out-smart us? What could the road from smart Artificial Intelligence to Artificial General Intelligence look like? Will it lead to wise decisions?

New Adventurous Leadership

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 12:00:00 Z

Mega Trends, Future Rules of Business & Building New Leadership

Since the financial crisis and the launch of the smartphone, a new generation of digital companies has emerged and split the business landscape. On the old gameboard, the majority of traditional companies competed based on the business models of the 20^th century. But now there’s a brand-new gameboard, with new players playing by different 21st century rules and technologies. These new companies are 10 to 40 times more efficient per employee than the old ones. If nothing is done the incumbents are heading for their Kodak moment, but if established businesses succeed in crossing the chasm to the new gameboard, future opportunities are almost endless. We are witness to a brave new world in the making — at high speed. Over the next 10 to 20 years, we’ll have to re-design practically every industry on the planet: we need new cities, new mobility, new sustainable energy, a new supply chain infrastructure, food, education and welfare for 9 billion happy people.

Wise Decision-Making

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 12:00:00 Z

Stepping Up to Sustainable Business Performance

An ambiguous, complex business environment. A world more interconnected than at any point in history. A society switched-on 24/7 to corporate misdemeanors. The life of a leader has never been tougher. And despite the best efforts of many, trust in corporate leadership remains worryingly fragile.

Smart leaders become wise when they address the dilemmas of modern business in a holistic way. Not only do wise leaders create and capture vital economic value, they also build more sustainable - and legitimate - organizations.

Destination Boardroom

Mon, 27 Nov 2017 12:00:00 Z

Destination Boardroom: Mapping the Executive Search World

Many decision-makers in the private and public sector see executive search as a ‘necessary evil’. A tour of investors and business schools, executive and supervisory board directors, throws up some unflattering descriptions. One of these: ‘an opaque sector’ is probably linked to the industry’s duty to exercise absolute discretion. Others signal a clear need for improvement: ‘pumping the same names around’, ‘emphasis on reputation, not merit’, ‘lack of quality’ and ‘low innovation’. The battle to professionalize is underway

Omni-Channel Retailing Champions

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 12:00:00 Z

In Search of the New Champions

From the Agora of ancient Ephesus, to Ming Dynasty Macau and Victorian Covent Garden, retailing is perhaps the world’s oldest industry. Today, it is undergoing a paradigm shift. Even the most proficient leaders face a host of challenges in the quest to compete in the omni-channel race. In this article, we set the scene, report from the talent management frontline and present the ideal profile for that most elusive of candidates – the omni-channel champion.