Why 2024 is a 'crucible year'

Last week, Bendelta held a special breakfast briefing at the Art Gallery of NSW.

We looked at the way great organisations and leaders focus on the long-term, even when the short-term challenges are significant. To do this, we were greatly assisted by a panel comprising three valued Bendelta clients: Nine Entertainment, Stantec, and Australian Cricketers' Association. Many thanks to:

• Ashok Sukumaran, MD at Stantec Australia on aligning culture to reinvigorate growth at this multinational engineering firm
• Todd Greenberg, CEO of the Australian Cricketers' Association on the benefits of focusing on values, behaviours, leadership and team effectiveness
• Gemma Nolan, Group Head of Talent, Inclusion and Diversity at Nine Entertainment on future fitting an enterprise in a very dynamic sector

 We also shared the results of Crucible 24, Bendelta’s 2024 market outlook survey. So why was it titled ‘crucible’?

A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.

In the 20th century, thanks to Arthur Miller’s famous tome, it came to mean a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new. I guess there’s no trial more severe than being placed in extremely high temperatures.

This is why Bendelta’s market outlook survey this year was branded Crucible 24. We sensed that this would be a testing year, putting leaders under a lot of heat and seeing different responses and outcomes.

 If you’d like to receive a copy, please let us know. In the meantime, here are a few headlines:

• Like a Tale of Two Cities, 2024 is either the best or worst of times. When asked the most descriptive adjectives for 2024, the top two were Cautious and Optimistic, sometimes bundled together! Hopeful sits alongside overwhelmed, while excited is snuggled up beside fatigued and resilient sits atop uncertain. There are some words that we weren’t hearing last year such as frugal and prudent
• Sometimes it was hard to see where the optimism was coming from, as most respondents called out economic contraction, tight budgets and geopolitical uncertainty as the most significant forces driving executive planning. The strategic responses to these forces were often couched with words such as tighten, simplify, core business and value for money.
• Despite this narrative around narrower focus, the top areas for investment made a very interesting read. The vast majority saw their way out of tough times being through a progressive approach i.e. growing as much (or more) as cutting, but doing so based on placing bets on what could create greatest future value
• How did this show up? Along with digital transformation and customer experience, which were no surprise, investments (of time and/or money) in culture and leadership were called out repeatedly
• Getting more specific, these investments ranged from the pragmatic to the expansive:

1. the number one organisational priority was simplifying and automating routine processes
2. the number one learning priority was building adaptive leadership
3. the number one culture priority was promoting cross-organisation collaboration and breaking down silos

Overall, the tone of responses was more positive and visionary perspective than one might have anticipated, given the environmental conditions. This suggests a business maturity and an understanding of eternal economic cycles, which – at least in the case of Bendelta’s survey respondents – suggests that most organisations and leaders will come out of the crucible’s extreme heat a little burnished but in excellent health.