As we all settle back into work after the annual break, there's something that's been sitting with me since mid-December: the "Human Risk" we're carrying into the year.
My clients have been stress-testing strategies, auditing AI stacks, and tightening risk registers over the last few months. We have been discussing whether, at times, there is one critical piece of infrastructure we have overlooked: our own collective clarity.
Over recent years, as disruption has accelerated, many of us have been operating with a relentless mental “hum” in the background - a low-grade noise that steadily erodes our focus and vitality. As Non-Executive Directors, Chairs, and Executives, we are still expected to be the steady hands on the wheel. Yet when the landscape shifts this quickly, it becomes alarmingly easy to slip into a purely reactive stance. I notice it in myself more often than I would prefer: sliding into what I call “Sunk-Cost Governance” – defending legacy assumptions and models, not because they still serve us, but because our minds are too depleted to do the more complex work of redesigning them.
In the year ahead, our minds will be either our most significant lever or our greatest liability. The storm of disruption isn't stopping. But what if we could create an internal "oasis" of clarity that remains still, regardless of what's happening outside?
As I've been updating my book Buddha in Pinstripes, I've been reminded of an ancient Buddhist teaching on the "Five Forces" for mental training. These are time-tested practices for developing cognitive resilience. Here's how we might adapt them as Five Internal Forces to build that oasis:
- Strategic Intent (Motivation): Setting a generative "Why" before the first slide hits the screen. We can consciously reset our driver instead of letting fear dictate the agenda.
- Operational Habituation (Familiarity): Building muscle memory today so we don't freeze when a crisis hits. We don't rise to the occasion; we fall to our habits.
- Ethical Capital (The White Seed): Planting seeds of integrity that act as a "resilience fund." Every high-integrity decision we make now is a deposit we'll need later.
- Bias Audit (Destruction): Systematically "destroying" legacy thinking that no longer serves us. We have to be as aggressive with our own blind spots as we are with our competitors.
- Vision Alignment (Aspiration): Ensuring today's wins fuel a long-term purpose. We can end every cycle by pulling ourselves back up to the legacy we're building.
The disruption is a given -the storm will rage. If we practice these five forces, we can create an internal space of stillness and clarity where sound judgment remains possible. We stay functional while the environment around us churns.
As we kick off this year, maybe the most important question we can ask ourselves isn't about the KPIs, but rather whether we're building the internal resilience we need for what's ahead.
I would love to hear how you're thinking about your own focus for the year ahead. What are you prioritising to maintain your clarity?
Warmly,
Liz
