Institutional memory.
Continuity in executing and expressing strategy distinguishes enterprises.
From profit to all the factors that influence growth — product development and innovation, process improvement, buyers and audiences, cost effectiveness, employee development — the most productive conversations around growth begin with enterprise-wide understanding of value. Employees must be clear on what leaders mean by value, first, and then know the path to creating and measuring it. The definitions of value may shift from era to era in an enterprise, so the role of the strategic plan is to act as a bridge across intent and delivery. In fact, the leaders who chart a growth trajectory by invoking the strategic plan create a stable platform for necessary change — even when the responsibility for implementation falls to the next generation. Wise leaders use moments of massive shifts to adjust enterprise strategy without relinquishing what is creating value in the present. They fortify enterprise knowledge that incorporates past achievement and provides context for future pivots — and they honor the teams who brought the enterprise to this moment.
Moses Shown the Promised Land. Benjamin West. 1801. Oil on wood. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Fosburgh, by exchange, 1969. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Corporate governance trends in the United States
Russell Reynolds. While individual companies and directors are at different places in their AI learning and utilization journeys, 2025 saw a major shift in raising the level of awareness and conversancy in AI, and 2026 will see many more companies and boards look to leverage that learning while investors will look for proof of their success. … These shifts suggest that boards are moving from AI awareness to accountability. In the coming year, directors will be expected not only to understand AI’s potential, but to demonstrate clear oversight structures, informed decision-making, and credible evidence that AI deployment aligns with strategy, values, and long-term value creation.
Why the world still runs on SAP
Eric and Seema Amble. Ultimately, the destination with AI might not be to “replace SAP/ServiceNow/Salesforce,” but to make them more programmable and approachable. The winners will be the platforms that (1) plug into transformation budgets with measurable risk and timeline reduction, then (2) expand into day-to-day operations as the trusted control plane for work, gradually unbundling the legacy UI into composable, governed, AI-assisted actions and thin apps. In other words, the systems of record endure; the interface, automation, and extension layer becomes the new software frontier. … They’re not “apps” in the consumer sense, they’re accumulated institutional memory expressed as tables, roles, approvals, posting logic, and exception handling.
Adopting AI: Starting small while thinking big
Angie Basiouny. (Vivian) Sun emphasized the importance of beginning with small, manageable AI projects that demonstrate clear business value. She advised companies to anchor AI initiatives in solving real business problems rather than chasing trends. “I think the No. 1 suggestion is to start from the business value instead of the technology,” she said. “We’re trying to use the technology to solve a problem. We’re not trying to build a use case because we want to use the technology.”
Rome’s Colosseum opens secret emperor’s passageway
Richard Whiddington. Commodus was passionate about gladiatorial combat (he imagined he was the god Hercules), and history tells that someone tried to end his reign prematurely when he was passing through the corridor—his advisors would succeed in 192 C.E. by getting a champion wrestler to strangle him.