LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIAN BOARDS; IT’S ALL ABOUT TECH; MAKING GROUP DECISIONS?

LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIAN BOARDS; IT’S ALL ABOUT TECH; MAKING GROUP DECISIONS?

Welcome to this week’s business and media intelligence, with insights collected over the past seven days by the Cannings Team.

IT’S ALL ABOUT TECH

  • A survey of 220 top technology executives has reinforced a perception across the sector that the pandemic has been a catalyst of digital transformation – and fresh enthusiasm for spending. The study by research firm ADAPT found that 47 per cent reported an increase in focus on and funding for innovation-related projects.
  • Another new research report by consulting firm AlphaBeta has found that Australian businesses have implemented as much new technology in one year as they did in the previous 10. The research also found that by enabling remote working, collaboration technologies such as video-conferencing and file sharing tools helped to keep 3.2 million Australians employed who would otherwise have been unable to continue working.

LESSONS FOR AUSTRALIAN BOARDS

  • Jane Fraser’s appointment as chief executive of Citigroup in the US is “about time”. While America’s big banks are starting to put more women in charge, men still dominate the financial industry’s upper ranks. Here is a chart that tells the story, in The Economist.

WHILE WE’RE ON THE TOPIC… WESTPAC TAKES A STEP BACK TO 1998, SAYS AFR

  • Westpac announced this week the appointment of Mike Hawker as a director to replace Alison Deans. Only problem is the bank now has the same number of women on its board as it did in 1998. Columnist Tony Boyd in the AFR says this shows an institution that is “tone deaf”. Read his column here:  The AFR’s Chanticleer column.

PANDEMIC = WHEN WILL IT END?

  • According to McKinsey, there are two important definitions of “end” when it comes to determining the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, each with a separate timeline. They are an epidemiological end point when herd immunity is achieved, and a transition to a form of normalcy. Read McKinsey’s assessment of the prospects for an end to the pandemic in 2021 here.

MAKING GROUP DECISIONS? DON’T FALL INTO GROUPTHINK

  • When you have tough business problem to solve, you likely bring it to a group. But larger pools of knowledge are by no means a guarantee of better outcomes. Harvard Business Review shares seven strategies for more effective group decision making, such as appointing a strategic dissenter and collecting opinions independently. Read them all here.

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