A.T. Kearney and World Government Summit report:

13 February 2019, Dubai, UAE – Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney and its National Transformations Institute, knowledge partner of the World Government Summit, have launched a report titled “Intentional Transformation – Harnessing the Emerging Logic of Accelerated Change”. The paper introduces leaders and policymakers to 10 emerging dynamics of change that make it possible for them to accelerate transformative progress intentionally. The paper presents practical the instruments by which these emerging dynamics can be harnessed in practice in three broad categories – strategic, connective and cognitive.

These recommendations place emphasis on the power that policy makers and governments have, to drive change in a historic critical juncture of disruption and deepening complexity. This disruption is being driven by profound geo-economic, technological and socio-political shifts in the global operating environment.

“We are passing through a fluid, chaotic moment in history, and the intensifying pace of change is placing unprecedented adaptive pressure on governments and societies around the world. The causal logics by which transformation can occur are changing and a new set of policy levers based on these new logics are emerging, making it possible for leaders to intentionally accelerate transformative processes,” commented Rudolph Lohmeyer, Vice President, A.T. Kearney and Head of the National Transformations Institute.

The report highlights that strategic logics derive transformative power primarily from factors in the external environment and target strategic outcomes of national scale and of significant long-term consequence. Connective logics derive transformative power from bridging informational gaps and removing obstacles to productive collaboration. They target the full spectrum of policy domains at all levels of government, whereas cognitive logics derive transformative power from human agency. In particular, they leverage the stunning advances in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics to both strengthen the capacity of citizens to take intentional action and to minimize the costs of our now well-established cognitive biases. They are relevant to the full spectrum of policy domains at all levels of government.

Two key transformative domains in which these logics are already unfolding are highlighted in the report: health and education sectors. The report illuminates how health policy can contribute profoundly to national transformation through a range of channels and can contribute to broader societal transformation by fueling its primary engine: the empowered agency of individual citizens. As Simo Berrada, the Head of A.T. Kearney’s Health Practice emphasizes, the transformation of the healthcare system from curative to preventive relies upon the activation of patients and their investment in and engagement with their own health outcomes.

From the long-term perspective, the report outlines that no policy domain is of more fundamental importance for driving transformative societal change than education. Alessandro Massa, A.T. Kearney Partner, explains that education is the key source of the adaptive capacity of the workforce to the continuous disruption of labor markets and an essential engine of the innovation so central to national competitiveness. A.T. Kearney has emphasized that education is among the most direct and pervasive interfaces between the state and its citizens and therefore an unparalleled platform for building trust.

“In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is imperative that government and business leaders take a fresh look at how their countries and corporations will contribute to the world’s fast changing value networks” said Mauricio Zuazua, Partner and Board Member A.T. Kearney.

The full report was revealed at the first day of the World Government Summit – a global platform dedicated to shaping the future of governments worldwide taking place in Dubai from February 10 to 12 2019.