The world has changed so profoundly that even the rhythm of the year is not what it used to be. The summer break isn’t a true break any longer — a good summer these days is one that goes by without a major global crisis.
But there is always a lot going on, and our hyperconnected world makes it impossible not to keep paying attention. Since the start of the year, we have all been relentlessly focused on a series of important issues: tariff negotiations, inflation and employment data, concerns about Fed independence, geopolitical tensions both acute and simmering, and ever greater advances and investments in AI.
As we enter the final stretch of the year, it’s the right time for a reset, the natural juncture to refocus on the business challenges ahead and how we intend to tackle them.
For business leaders, the greatest challenge today comes from pervasive heightened uncertainty. The U.S. administration has set out to reshape the global trading system; accelerating digital innovation continues to transform the global economy; tighter immigration policy has caused a sudden shock to the U.S. labor market; and to make matters worse, declining response rates to surveys have affected the quality of economic statistics, making it harder to gauge macro developments in real time.
