The So What from BCG

James Lowry has devoted most of his professional life trying to bring corporations and minority communities closer together. While Lowry views many of the corporate diversity efforts in the 1960s and 1970s as charity, he says companies are finally starting to create business-driven initiatives supported with resources and leadership commitment. Lowry talks about how corporations and communities alike benefit from supplier diversity, leadership diversity, financial inclusion, racial equity, and minority business enterprises. He also looks back at that a career that spans volunteering in the Peace Corps, working with Bobby Kennedy in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a troubled Brooklyn neighborhood back in the 1960s, and roaming the corridors of corporate power.

Linear thinking is valuable when the environment is relatively stable and familiar. But in uncertain economic times, executives also need to think expansively about the future, analyzing a range of potential scenarios. Alan Iny discusses how executives can prepare for uncertainty rather than be overwhelmed by it.

COP27, the global climate conference in Egypt, represented a mix of accomplishments and frustrations. Wealthy nations agreed to establish a fund to help pay for the loss and damage that their emissions have imposed on poor countries in Africa and elsewhere.

And yet the current levels of emissions from the North remain stubbornly high, and will continue to affect nations in the South. Several members of BCG’s COP27 delegation discuss what the conference means for Africa—the need for resilient infrastructure and communities, the need for the private sector to do more, and the dangers that both climate change and climate action impose on women.

We often hear that the climate transition must also be a just transition. But how can we make that happen when, for example, coal remains both the largest source of energy in the world and a source of steady income for miners in many countries? Keshlan Mudaly, a BCG principal in Johannesburg, South Africa, unpacks the many tradeoffs and dilemmas that confront public and private leaders in their quest to lower carbon emissions.

The Global South isn’t standing still as tariffs and uncertainty roil financial markets and business plans. Aparna Bharadwaj, leader of BCG’s Global Advantage practice, explains how these nations are forming smart partnerships and moving from low-cost production to innovation-powered impact.

Learn More:

Aparna Bharadwaj: https://on.bcg.com/4cIKW3V

In a Multipolar World, the Global South Finds Its Moment: https://on.bcg.com/42UhQLn

BCG on Emerging Markets: https://on.bcg.com/4cMJ9e4

BCG's Center for Geopolitics: https://on.bcg.com/3EA5A9A

[00:00] Aparna's 'So What'

[02:18] The Global South From Its Own Perspective

[04:12] Common Themes In The Global South

[07:43] Climate And Sustainability

[08:47] How Countries Are Navigating Their Own Paths

[11:08] China's Role In The Global South

[13:28] How Leaders In The Global North Can Flip The Narrative

[14:53] Emerging Industries In The Global South

[17:15] The Global South Is A Positive Story

[18:31] The Future Of Global Commerce

[20:21] Advice To Leaders In The Global South

[21:26] The 'Now What'