Marcelino Castrillo, CEO of Shawbrook Bank, invited Matthew to speak. Shawbrook is a London-based private bank that advises over half a million customers on all aspects of their financial affairs, an increasingly difficult task as the world becomes more complex and disrupted and shifts from a US-centric to a multi-polar order. The rewards for getting it right are huge, and the lows for getting it wrong abyssal.
The keynote, titled ‘Risking It All’, was first given in person to an audience of three hundred at the London Saracens stadium. Matthew was asked to examine global STEEP trends (Societal, Technological, Environmental, Economic and Political) from his 311 Institute Annual Trends Codex, then their impact on investors and individuals in the UK, and on the UK as a whole, as we race into a VUCA-MAX future whether or not we are shaping it.
"Today 55 percent of what happens to organisations comes from external sources, with CEOs and leaders now only controlling 45 percent of what happens to their organisations."Matthew Griffin, London, April 2024
His starting point: today 55 percent of what happens to organisations comes from external sources, leaving CEOs and leaders in control of only 45 percent, and roughly the same applies to individuals. The rising cost of living and inflation followed COVID-19, the supply chain snarl-ups and Russia's war in Ukraine, none of which any of us controlled. Pensions are at risk as China and the BRICS try to unseat the US dollar as the global reserve currency, and many people worry about their jobs as Silicon Valley releases ever more capable AIs.
As a country that relies on other parts of the world, the UK is pushed and pulled like a stick caught in a river's current. What happens to and within it is increasingly the direct and indirect result of other countries' actions and the downstream impact of trends, and that is what Matthew explored.
