Key Take Aways:
In the dynamic landscape of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), businesses face a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Addressing these effectively can position companies for long-term success.
Opportunities:
- Investing in emerging technologies and upskilling the workforce can boost productivity, drive innovation, and lead to the development of new products and services that align with evolving market demands.
- Prioritising Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles can enhance stakeholder trust, improve brand reputation, and increase access to sustainable investments.
- Boards play a crucial role in ensuring compliance and accountability within the shifting legislative frameworks.
- By establishing clear governance structures and robust risk management and reporting frameworks, companies can adapt and thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.
Challenges:
- The rapid pace of technological change in 4IR can result in lost productivity, declining market share, and obsolescence.
- The impact of 4IR on the workforce may cause significant social and economic disruption.
- ESG risks, including reputational damage, legal and regulatory penalties, and loss of investor confidence, pose significant threats.
- The evolving legislative framework around 4IR and ESG presents compliance and accountability challenges for companies and their boards.
Transcript
SC: Good morning to all of you who have joined us depending on where you are in the world. It's morning, midday, one o'clock in the in the UK. So good afternoon to those who are joining us from the UK.
Thank you very much for being present. I am Sharon Constançon, I'm CEO of Genius Boards and Genius Methods. We are a consulting company in the board evaluation, board development and board training space.
Let me introduce my guest - Rhona Morrell. I love her description of herself. She calls herself Chief Change and Planet Officer, which is who she is to her customers. To herself, she is Chief Executive of iReGen, which is an organisation and a person that is absolutely passionate about the sustainability of business, sustainability of our planet, about the ESG elements, about our environment, about climate change.
There are many, many areas that Rhona is very, very passionate about, you'll soon see and share the passion with her as well and the things that are important to her. What we want to get across to you today in this webinar, is to make sure that you understand as a board, you actually can make a difference. It's not difficult to make a difference. We all have to take responsibility to ensure we are making a difference. One, because our customers expect it, our staff expect it, our investors expect it.
All our stakeholders are expecting us to consider long term sustainability, not only is it good governance, but it’s also actually good business.
To start with Rhona it might be helpful, if you could introduce yourself. Just tell us a little bit about your journey, because it's been really fascinating hearing who you are today, where you come from and why is this your passion today?
Thank you very much for being present. I am Sharon Constançon, I'm CEO of Genius Boards and Genius Methods. We are a consulting company in the board evaluation, board development and board training space.
Let me introduce my guest - Rhona Morrell. I love her description of herself. She calls herself Chief Change and Planet Officer, which is who she is to her customers. To herself, she is Chief Executive of iReGen, which is an organisation and a person that is absolutely passionate about the sustainability of business, sustainability of our planet, about the ESG elements, about our environment, about climate change.
There are many, many areas that Rhona is very, very passionate about, you'll soon see and share the passion with her as well and the things that are important to her. What we want to get across to you today in this webinar, is to make sure that you understand as a board, you actually can make a difference. It's not difficult to make a difference. We all have to take responsibility to ensure we are making a difference. One, because our customers expect it, our staff expect it, our investors expect it.
All our stakeholders are expecting us to consider long term sustainability, not only is it good governance, but it’s also actually good business.
To start with Rhona it might be helpful, if you could introduce yourself. Just tell us a little bit about your journey, because it's been really fascinating hearing who you are today, where you come from and why is this your passion today?
RM: Thank you so much, Sharon, thank you for the introduction and having me here today. A virtual hello to everybody on the webinar today.
As Sharon mentioned, my name is Rhona. I live and work in the UK. I actually started my career way back when, with big brands like Red Bull. I worked in FMCG companies – fast moving consumer goods companies, and I worked my way up to sort of board level. So, I’ve sat where you’re sat essentially, as an entertainment and sports director within the NEC group – and it was during that time and over 15 to 20 years of work that I realised, through traveling, through doing philanthropic work, that there was a lot more going on.
Having come from a brand, like Red Bull where we were risk takers. Culture was really important and understanding your stakeholders was at the heart of everything we did. I guess in a way, I just assumed everyone was like that. Fast forward sort of 15 years and having worked in commercial, marketing, innovation, supply chain, I’d really started to get a really good understanding of the bigger picture of business, but burning all the way along through every trip with the family or scratching the surface of what was going on around me. It soon became very apparent that the way we are transitioning as a world both through the fourth industrial revolution, but also through sustainability, that for me, it was a no brainer.
Once I knew the facts, then essentially, I kind of had to reinvent if you like and kind of study in this area. So, yes, I’ve been working in this space for about seven years now. I studied at Cambridge, I’ve read far too many books, but in terms of me today, I’m a trust mentor. I’m also on the board of trustees for Education Africa. My day job, if you like, is essentially advising educating and empowering people, from SMEs to corporations on these very topics.
I’ve got a couple of really wonderful global initiatives, the Water Initiative in India, a jungle restoration project in Panama and a natural fertilizer project in America.
So alongside doing workshops in this space, I love doing these sessions because it allows that interaction and myth busting and kind of giving you that knowledge and the facts to really hopefully empower you to act at the end of it. So, thank you Sharon for having me.
“The future is not about fighting change, it is about harnessing it and creating sustainable solutions.”Rhona Morrell
Want to know more?
If you would like to:
- Find out more on how to energise creativity and empower your organisation’s leadership to think sustainably.
- Framework you decision-making capabilities around innovation and the modern agenda.
- If you have any questions that relate to specific challenges.
- If you have some value adding comments to share.
Please reach out to Sharon Constançon of Genius Boards for a no commitment, free conversation or contact us directly.
