The contemporary business landscape, characterised by escalating volatility and compounding risks, demands a profound strategic reorientation towards resilience. A recent pulse check, conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, illuminates a critical chasm between awareness and tangible preparedness among private-sector leaders. A striking 84 per cent of companies report feeling inadequately prepared for prevailing trends and future uncertainties.

Organisations overwhelmingly identify technology, encompassing cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, regulatory shifts, evolving market dynamics, and macroeconomic pressures, including inflation and trade policies, as their foremost concerns. Despite this recognition of formidable threats, a significant paradox emerges. Businesses largely prioritise immediate, short-term defensive measures, often neglecting crucial forward-looking strategies and foundational capabilities such as foresight and comprehensive disruption readiness. This imbalance creates notable vulnerabilities, hindering organisations' capacity to navigate prolonged periods of uncertainty effectively.

Moreover, the report reveals that only a small fraction of companies, specifically 13 per cent, comprehensively embed resilience key performance indicators into their long-term strategic planning. Societal alignment and purpose, a dimension of increasing global significance, frequently receives insufficient attention, despite its pivotal role in addressing long-term risks identified in the Global Risks Report 2025. Cultivating robust leadership across all organisational strata becomes paramount, fostering agile decision-making and empowering teams amidst pressure.

The path forward necessitates a unified approach. Public-private collaboration offers a potent mechanism for accelerating resilience efforts through enhanced access to capital, the cultivation of macroeconomic stability, the scaling of sustainable investments, and the proactive adaptation of human capital to technological disruption. By fostering collective action and integrating resilience as a core component of strategic thinking, organisations can not only withstand future shocks but also seize opportunities for sustainable growth in an increasingly interconnected world.

By the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company