At the end of a year that defies description from my perch here in the United Kingdom, it seems fitting that the royalty-free collaborative photographic image site Unsplash provides the cover image today- ‘into the light’ by Iva Rajovic in Serbia. Because if we have learnt anything at all in 2020, a year requiring fast intellectual reflexes, rapid analysis, collaboration between public and private sectors and quick changes of direction in policies affecting the reality of millions of lives , it must surely be that we need to collaborate to better deal with new challenges.

The “Oxford Vaccine”, the latest of the Covid-19 vaccines to be licensed by the UK regulator, is a game changer, providing real hope for a speedier end to the pandemic. On this last day of 2020, we could indeed be heading into the light - but only if we acknowledge the need to ensure ongoing cross-sector collaboration. For our embattled businesses looking for the route to economic recovery, that means opening up to fresh thinking with genuine diversity and inclusion, and also resisting the urge to see recruitment and boardroom processes as writ in stone, never changed because their longevity of endurance is seen as equivalent to best in practice.

An interest in Corporate Governance in the UK was seen too long as the preserve of geeks and “anoraks” - a peculiarly British piece of slang that you can, if you wish, learn more about here. To me this derision was always rooted partly in the assumption that such issues of “governance” belonged firmly in the hands of only the great and the good, otherwise known as the elite. Any interest from mere mortals therefore translated as deviant behaviour. “Anoraks” were assumed largely to be men, because women were nowhere on the horizon.

It was like that just a decade ago, when I first started this blog, Board Talk, with a view to making corporate governance issues more '“real”, with constant illustration and attempts at providing food for thought. The early ones are on my first site, www.dinamedland.com. Commercial sponsorship with no editorial control, rolled over for four years from ICSA, provided momentum - and then the Forbes platform provided a real opportunity. Following instinct and a nose for news, I soon found that all the dots involving growing concern on issues of Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) led to one another, and it did not take long to make the connection between corporate governance, ESG, risk - and the need for leadership.

At the end of 2020 as we sit ravaged by this pandemic it is clear that while ‘corporate governance’ still languishes for widespread attention, risk is high on the agenda across public and private sectors. We need to rethink strategic priorities and tilt the same umbrella to allow Governance Risk our full attention. Because if you look at all the most pressing issues we face - around climate action and climate emergency, systemic inequality and the urgent need for diversity and inclusion, geopolitical risks and the impact on supply chains and strategic direction, it follows that for better governance, there must be a far quicker ability at the top of management teams to share information and analyse risk for an apt and agile response.

In early December, there was a virtual summit hosted by NASDAQ Governance Solutions and RANE, the Risk Assistance Network and Exchange, which provided insights as to just how powerful such an approach can be. Given the growing need for boardrooms to make sure they are getting the right information and take account of risk in multiple dimensions at the same time, they need to broaden the expertise that sits around the table, and also to make decisions in the recognition that the backdrop of corporate purpose has shifted, and is still in flux.

RANE’s founder David Lawrence also holds the title of Chief Collaborative Officer. Ex Goldman Sachs, during his time there he was the global head of the Business Intelligence Group. He explains the the thinking behind RANE in this short video.

On December 3, 2020, the virtual summit : Board Governance Through The Lens of Geopolitical Risk, featured a keynote interview with Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss how boards can better account for geopolitical risks. While there are risks that occur by virtue of where a company does business (which we normally think of as being geopolitical risks), there is a new group of risk: that from workers, investors or consumers making their views and preferences known, said Mr Haass.

“Geopolitics can now be inserted into a board’s decision making by any number of constituents…..Business management is increasingly looking like political management” he said. Social media has driven this insertion of geopolitics into boards “in overdrive” said Mr Lawrence.

I would call it fundamentally acknowledged and deeply felt widespread ESG issues across populations and civil society rather than “geopolitics”, but the issues are the same. “ESG is increasingly viewed as both a strategy to make businesses more sustainable, but also as an important way to mitigate key geopolitical risks, such as climate change or social unrest” says a RANE summary statement.

Scrutiny at this virtual summit spanned different geo-political regions, with examples and insight from a wide variety of experts. The cognitive diversity of the input may be instructive for UK boardrooms, which are still struggling with what was often considered to be a radical decision years ago now by the regulators to focus on the importance of “culture.”

As Byron Loflin, Global Head of Board Engagement, Nasdaq, noted, corporate boards that successfully build a culture of curiosity and free exchange among members “tend to excel at innovation and be best positioned to respond dynamically in times of transition or crisis.”

The summit’s consideration of the Latin American region was of particular interest to me, as I am working with Canning House around its series on sustainable development. Cristina Cortes, its CEO, was kind enough to introduce me as one of the first journalists to recognise the importance of ESG at the the first webinar which I moderated for them. The third webinar in February on the energy transition is timely, with growing interest across the globe on movement into renewable energy.

The NASDAQ/RANE summit offered insight into the potential for investment opportunities in solar and wind energy, geothermal energy and lithium in the region. Covid-19 has accelerated operational developments in certain sectors - remote learning and supply chain flexibility have developed faster that expected out of sheer necessity, suggested Bob McCooey, Senior Vice-President, Listings Services, Nasdaq - who pointed to an “explosion” of IPPO activity out of Brazil, with Peru, Mexico and Colombia also seeing increases in investor activity.

In Latin America, as elsewhere, investors are focused on ESG-type analysis. “Companies with a stronger ESG lens perform better in the market, statistically speaking” said Robert McCooey, Senior Vice-President, Listing Services, Nasdaq.

Anyone still wondering what an ESG lens amounts to should consider one of the most gritty stories of 2020 that links growing environmental concerns with fatal human tragedy: the death of a nine year old girl from air pollution in the United Kingdom. Investors and businesses everywhere will shudder at the thought of such a tragedy being laid at their doorstep.

The numbers of lives lost in this pandemic are now so ghastly most of us however shocked and saddened, cannot begin to get our head around them . The death of this one little girl, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah from man-made conditions that we continue to tolerate must also never be forgotten.

With a new year and COP26 becoming more real by the day, businesses in the UK - as everywhere - will be honing their understanding of ESG.

Happy New Year - to all a better one - and thank you for reading.

Cover Image: Iva Rajovic. Tara. Mokra Gora, Serbia ‘Into The Light’ on Unsplash.com.