Agents of Change 2024 kicked off at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Senior business executives convened alongside UN hosts to discuss the impact of three megatrends - geopolitics, climate change and artificial intelligence - on the business sector and their role as agents of change. Following this event, similar gatherings were held at UN offices in Santiago, Singapore and Accra.

Alongside the world tour, we assembled a global advisory of business leaders and subject matter experts. Their roles positioned them at the coalface of trends in technology, sustainability, geopolitics, HR and governance. This advisory participated in a series of roundtables and interviews that helped us gain a deeper understanding of the changes occurring in the business sector and their intersectionality.

A key takeaway from our journey with the global advisory was that business leaders need to become more skilled in Balancing Psychological Distance. We explored this topic in more depth via the A Step Ahead speaker series. With help from the CSL Leadership Community, we broke this topic down into three themes, and used the lived experience of sector leaders from around the world to highlight examples of best practice.