Deploying resilience for success in a volatile world

Public-private collaboration is key to building resilience. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto
- Most companies feel unprepared for today’s uncertainties, leaving critical gaps in disruption readiness.
- Organizations tend to prioritize quick fixes and neglect foresight and proactive risk management – both key to thriving in uncertainty.
- Public-private collaboration is critical for building long-term resilience and creating a more sustainable and stable future.
Resilience has emerged as the key capability essential for both survival and success in a world shaped by accelerating change.
In 2024, mentions of the term "resilience" in quarterly earnings calls by Fortune 500 executives surged by more than 200% compared to 2019, reflecting its growing prominence in corporate strategy.
Adding to this conversation, the Resilience Pulse Check: Harnessing Collaboration to Navigate a Volatile World report, published by the World Economic Forum under the Resilience Consortium in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, presents the first in-depth survey of resilience readiness across industries and regions.
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As uncertainty continues to escalate – driven by climate crises, rapid technological advancements, economic and geopolitical volatility – the stakes for businesses have never been higher.
Companies are making unprecedented investments in resilience strategies, not only to withstand disruptions but also to capitalize on emerging opportunities.
By focusing on futureproofing their business models and embedding agility, firms are building the capacity to adapt swiftly to changing market dynamics, technological shifts and evolving customer needs.
The energy sector, for example, is investing $500 billion annually in renewable projects, while the automotive industry is spending over $1.2 trillion in electric vehicles and batteries through 2030.
Yet, these bold moves come with heightened risks, emphasizing the need for more agile strategic thinking that prioritizes flexibility and enables quicker adjustments, embedding adaptability into core decision-making processes to align strategies with rapidly changing realities.
A snapshot of resilience readiness
Despite increased recognition of the importance of resilience, the Resilience Pulse Check survey reveals that 84% of companies feel unprepared to navigate emerging uncertainties – underscoring a significant gap between awareness and action.
Many organizations continue to address resilience in piecemeal ways, focusing on short-term needs rather than building capacity for long-term adaptability and flexibility.
For instance, short-term actions such as strengthening supply chains or safeguarding against cyberthreats dominate corporate priorities. While these are vital, they often fall under a defensive resilience strategy – a reactive approach to mitigate current risks rather than proactively shaping future readiness. Yet, a resilient approach relies on both defensive and offensive strategies to navigate change effectively.
Perhaps most strikingly, only 13% of companies comprehensively integrate resilience key performance indicators (KPIs) into their strategies. This limited adoption suggests that resilience is often treated as an operational concern rather than a strategic imperative embedded across all facets of business decision-making.
Companies must embed resilience into their DNA, making it a core component of long-term strategic planning. This involves anticipating not only today’s challenges, but also tomorrow’s opportunities while remaining agile and future-proof – flexible and quick to adapt to customer demands, technological disruptions, regulatory changes and operational challenges.
When resilience is proactively integrated, it becomes a competitive advantage, enabling businesses to seize opportunities, mitigate risks and maintain relevance in a rapidly changing world.
The role of leadership in building resilience
True resilience demands more than isolated, reactive measures; it requires a shift in mindset. Leadership is pivotal in embedding resilience across organizations and it must be strengthened at every level:
- Boards: Embracing diverse perspectives to drive balanced and informed decision-making.
- Executive teams: Enhancing decision-making speed through forward-thinking scenario planning and agile responses.
- Workplace teams: Fostering trust, autonomy and psychological safety to empower teams under pressure.
- Individual leaders: Modelling resilience, inspiring team members and addressing challenges such as burnout and shifting workplace expectations.
Public-private collaboration is imperative
Building long-term resilience is not a task for businesses alone. Resilient economies demand significant capital, technical expertise and cross-sectoral collaboration. No single sector can shoulder this burden in isolation.
The survey highlights significant regional differences in resilience challenges, stressing the need for tailored strategies. Limited access to capital remains a widespread issue, with Africa facing the most acute constraints, driven in part by high borrowing costs.
Resilience Consortium: What is the Forum doing to strengthen global resilience?
Macroeconomic instability is a key concern in both Africa and Latin America, while European companies are primarily focused on addressing the long-term impacts of climate change.
Meanwhile, businesses in North America and Europe prioritize workforce upskilling to stay competitive amid rapid technological advancements.
These regional insights point to four key areas where public and private sectors must collaborate to develop scalable, sustainable solutions that support long-term resilience:
1. Improving access to capital
Businesses (particularly small and medium enterprises) and governments alike often lack the financial resources needed to invest in resilience.
Public-private partnerships, including with the multilateral development banks, can help bridge this gap, providing funding mechanisms and policy coordination that prioritize long-term investments.
2. Fostering macroeconomic stability
Predictable, stable economic conditions are essential for resilience planning. Governments and businesses must work together to create policies that mitigate economic shocks and build trust in financial systems.
3. Driving sustainable investments and green growth
Climate resilience is a cornerstone of broader resilience efforts. Investments in renewable energy, sustainable supply chains and circular economies not only reduce negative impacts on the environment, but also create more robust systems that withstand global disruptions.
4. Adapting human capital to technological disruption
The rapid pace of technological change is reshaping industries and jobs. Businesses must collaborate with institutions and policy-makers to upskill and reskill the workforce, ensuring they are equipped for future demands.
The upcoming United Nations' Financing for Development Conference, set to be held in Seville, Spain, presents an opportunity for the public and private sector to collaborate on advancing key areas of resilience. The 2025 conference follows the previous one held in Addis Ababa in 2015 and comes at a pivotal moment with only five years remaining to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This provides an important window for governments to actively engage with private sector insights and address the barriers that prevent greater investment and development progress.
A call to move resilience to the forefront
As global leaders convene in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting, the moment is ripe to move resilience from the periphery to the forefront of business, development and economic strategy.
The lessons from the Resilience Pulse Check survey are clear: resilience cannot remain an afterthought. It must be a guiding principle that shapes how we invest, innovate and collaborate.
The pathway to long-term resilience is not without its challenges. Transformative change requires overcoming organizational inertia, addressing resource constraints and balancing immediate pressures with long-term goals. But the potential rewards – a more stable, equitable and sustainable global economy – far outweigh the costs.
Looking ahead, the next step should be to foster strategic alignment between the public and private sectors to drive both business value and long-term resilience.
With finite resources and an unstable economic landscape shaped by fluctuating growth rates and geopolitical shifts – including the intensifying competition for control over key parts of the value chain, such as access to critical raw materials and supply chain sovereignty – businesses and governments must focus on high-impact investments.
By aligning these efforts with broader strategic goals, we can build a more sustainable and stable future.
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