A fast-changing and dangerous world has created a new job: CPO

Multinational grip

There has been no recourse from the influence of this dark form of globalisation and no escape from its reach. It has touched everything from our morning coffee to our evening meals and many aspects in between, taking hold of our daily lives. And its grasp may yet tighten.

The smartphones we keep with us as we sleep – and look at as soon we wake up – already spy on us day and night and may soon become like day-to-day robots in our lives, via the rollout of artificial intelligence.

Read more: When artificial intelligence becomes a nightmare

This could increase isolation and gloom, while also costing millions of jobs, pulling employees and young people into an unknown world shaped by globalised technology.

Armies will also have smart weapons and technologies that surpass human intelligence. There are even fears that this technology could one day act on its own and wipe out the planet in the blink of an eye.

Cartoon: Will AI take over the world?

Although the Covid-19 pandemic was a historic opportunity to bring humanity together, we seem to have learned nothing from it. We quickly forgot those nights when people were standing on their balconies, forming a collective yet distant choir, when faced with a sense of approaching mass death.

Such spirit faded into the truly disappointing scandals of greed that marred the most famous pharmaceutical companies and vaccine makers and some of the biggest governments.

Financial fires

The bank failures we've witnessed since the beginning of this year – especially the historical dramatic collapse of Credit Suisse and before that, Silicon Valley Bank – show us it is not just Lebanon where people's savings are not safe.

Read more: Collapsed bank turmoil subsides. But is the next storm brewing?

The global and 24-hour reach of social media means one "xeet" (formerly a tweet) can spark a bank run. Such financial fires, when aflame, can devastate any nation's economy, and it is unclear where and how they can be extinguished.

We have lived through two decades of wars and their consequences – especially since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 22nd anniversary of which looms. They range from the subsequent US invasion of Iraq to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Alongside these conflicts have been epidemics, droughts, wildfires, crop shortages, climate change and mass displacement of people, which have thrown food supply chains into serious jeopardy.

Many countries have long been familiar with these vulnerabilities. After Russia launched the war on Ukraine, Europeans began to experience shortages and price inflation for energy and basic foodstuffs which they had been shielded from for decades because of their longstanding stability.

But the Ukraine war has changed things dramatically. For the past 16 months, Europeans have been grappling with inflation, rising interest rates, amassing debt, and declining social and healthcare services and benefits.

Read more: France's social unrest is a symptom of its wider economic decline

Shielding businesses from global crises

A crisis may begin in one country, but its effects now reverberate across the globe, derailing economic and international programmes and targets.

Warning signs of this are manifesting daily: raging wars, paralysed supply chains, collapsed and distressed currencies, competing groups, and fractured economies riven by inflation and high-interest rates. There are rising debt ceilings and upset societies and cultures to the north, south, east and west.

There are coups and contested elections all over the globe. We must now navigate the leanings and concealed intentions of various political parties to get a sense of their economic implications as we seek clarity on the future of our country and our children.

Giant corporations are not immune to this menacing reality and they are well aware of the looming dangers. They have even tasted the bitterness of the successive losses it has inflicted. The issue of political security has become a top priority to the extent that it now needs a dedicated presence in the boardroom.

Companies have always lobbied for political, or even diplomatic, influence. But today's level of potential existential political threat has created an unprecedented sense of deep uncertainty for the biggest corporate names on the planet.

This means major corporations are increasingly forced to engage in politics – domestically and internationally – to protect their businesses and hedge against potential threats. The dangers take on many forms — from legislation to regulations via sanctions over political and security matters to initiatives around tax.

There are also UN agreements on climate change alongside shifts in agricultural, industrial, and commercial systems and sectors.

All these issues line up alongside the imminent threat of artificial intelligence. The first political summit on this threatening technology is expected to be held at the heads-of-state level in London next autumn after a recent invitation issued in Hiroshima by the G7 group of the most industrialised nations.

To protect their interests, companies need a new top-level post. C-suites require a chief political officer – or CPO – alongside other senior staff, from the chief operations officer (COO), and chief technology officer (CTO) to the chief marketing officer (CMO).  

This trend has increasingly taken hold in Europe and it is likely that major Arab companies will also make a similar addition to their C-suites or even to their boards of directors.

Political and security repercussions in our region — whether negative or positive — require Arab companies to protect their long-term strategies at a regional and international level.

There is a wide range of areas where geopolitical change is looming. It covers US-Chinese ties, the Russian war in Ukraine, Sudan's bloody conflict, Egypt and Turkey's inflation, the agreements that Arab states reach with Iran and Israel, the memberships of leading Arab states in global political and economic blocs such as BRICS.

All these factors have the potential to impact the performance of companies and their investment programmes and revenues. Whatever else this complex and uncertain picture means, precaution and preparedness becomes a duty at the highest level.