Boardroom Statecraft

In this special episode of Boardroom Statecraft , Ross Hill is joined by Insight Forward intern Sofia Bohan to discuss her research into modern disinformation and why it has become a core feature of geopolitical competition. The conversation explores how misinformation and disinformation campaigns evolve from online narratives into real-world political and security consequences, drawing on example...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft , we examine how the traditional boundaries between peace and conflict have collapsed, pulling corporations into the centre of geopolitical competition. What was once the domain of states and intelligence services is now a contested battlespace where private companies are targeted, leveraged, or coerced through cyberattacks, sabotage, supply chain disruption...

In this bonus edition of Boardroom Statecraft, Ross Hill is joined by Insight Forward intern Trevor Johnson to unpack why cobalt has become one of the most strategically contested minerals in the world and what that means for businesses. Drawing on Trevor’s research project, they explore how China’s dominance over cobalt mining and refining, centred on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is shap...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft , Ross Hill and Dr Treston Wheat continue their series on the Top 10 Geopolitical Risks for Businesses in 2026 with Risk #9. They examine how the rapid rise and proliferation of autonomous weapons systems – especially cheap, adaptable drones – is reshaping modern warfare and opening up a new class of risks for companies, cities and critical infrastructure. D...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft, we unpack Risk 8 in our Top 10 Geopolitical Risks for Businesses in 2026: Revolutionary Violence in the new Gilded Age. We revisit our earlier report on this theme and explain how inequality, collapsing trust in institutions and rapid technological change are combining to lower social and moral barriers to violence, both online and offline. We compare today...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft , we explore Risk #7 in our Top 10 Geopolitical Risks for Businesses in 2026: modern radical politics on the left and right . We look at how politics is being pulled toward the harder edges across the US, UK, Europe, Latin America, India, Israel and beyond, and how the Overton window has shifted so that once-fringe ideas now shape mainstream debate. We discu...

In this episode, we explore one of the most overlooked yet consequential risks shaping the business landscape in 2026 — the erosion of social bonds and collapse of trust. What begins as a sociological trend now extends deep into corporate risk, driving political polarisation, workplace conflict, and consumer fragmentation. We discuss how decades of atomisation, the decline of community life, and t...

In this episode, Ross and Treston unpack the rising concern over bias in large language models and its implications for business, politics, and information ecosystems. As AI systems become embedded in corporate workflows and decision-making, the hosts explore how cultural, political, and commercial bias seeps into data and rules, shaping what people see, believe, and decide. They discuss AI as a n...

In this episode, we examine Debt Overhang & Crowding Out — the fourth of the Top 10 Geopolitical Risks for Business in 2026. We explore how decades of ultra-low interest rates created a global dependence on cheap credit. As rates normalise, the political and corporate debt burdens accumulated during that era are constraining growth, investment, and strategic freedom. Key Themes From cheap cred...

In this episode, we continue our series on the Top 10 Geopolitical Risks for Businesses in 2026, turning to Risk #3 — Industrial Policy and Geoeconomics. We examine how governments are abandoning decades of free-market orthodoxy in favour of state-led industrial strategies designed to protect national interests, secure supply chains, and reassert economic sovereignty. The discussion explores: How...

In this week's episode, we discuss how techno-nationalism is reshaping the global economy. Governments are moving to control data, AI, chips, and the critical minerals behind them. The result is tighter rules, fragmented supply chains, and companies needing a clearer foreign-policy lens. This is part of our series covering our Top 10 Risks for Businesses in 2026: download the full report here...

In this week's episode we discuss why great-power politics remains the defining backdrop for 2026, how a shift toward hard-edged transactionalism is reshaping alliances and regions, and what this means for corporate strategy, supply chains, and market access. We use history as a guide (the “long nineteenth century,” the Concert of Europe, Bismarck’s balance-of-power craft) to frame today’s ris...

Why do so many modern leaders look skilled at the sound bite but weak at getting things done? In this episode, we discuss the decline in political effectiveness and how it fuels today’s populism. We trace how the attention economy reshaped the skill set for office, why vision and institutional mastery have thinned out, and what that means for policy volatility and corporate risk. From C-SPAN sound...

This week we carry on the conversation about the online aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing and what it signals for corporate risk. We explore “mimetic nihilism” and ****posting as threat vectors, the rise of crowd-sourced doxxing lists, the new wave of firings over celebratory posts, and how companies are being squeezed from both ends—consumer expectations below and state power above. In the se...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft, we examine the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the United States and its wider implications. We discuss Kirk’s role in shaping the conservative youth movement, the suspect’s uncertain motives, and why the killing fits into a troubling pattern of targeted violence against political figures and business leaders worldwide. The conversati...

What would Machiavelli do? This week we use the realist tradition—Machiavelli, Thucydides, Bismarck, Metternich, Kissinger—to frame how boards should operate in a multipolar world. We are back to an anarchic system where states (and companies) pursue self-interest. For corporates, that means recognising you are a geopolitical actor, building a grand strategy with market-specific variants, and bein...

In this episode, we unpack the Trump administration’s confrontation with the US Federal Reserve—what politicising an independent central bank means for inflation control, debt servicing, market stability and global spillovers. We connect the dots to the dollar’s reserve-currency role and BRICS “multipolar” rhetoric, then pivot to the widening transatlantic rift on technology governance, as Washing...

This week we make the case for strategic intelligence as a core business function, not a “nice to have”. explaining why much vendor “geopolitics” is operational rather than truly strategic, and how to shift from incident tracking to impact analysis with second- and third-order effects. The conversation covers communicating for decision-makers (clear executive summaries, tailored outputs), and why...

This week we discuss - the decision to deploy federal forces in Washington, DC, the Home Rule context, and the wider trend toward militarised policing. They separate perception from crime data, explain why visible presence can calm fear without fixing root causes, and note that sustained police capacity is what reduces crime over time. The conversation then turns to corporate risk: arbitrary polic...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft , Ross Hill and Dr. Wheat examine how European politics—particularly in the UK and EU—has shifted over recent decades, drawing parallels and contrasts with developments in the US. They explore the economic stagnation, demographic decline, and migration pressures driving political change, alongside the rise of nationalist-populist movements from the UK’s Refo...

In this episode of Boardroom Statecraft, Ross Hill and Dr. Treston Wheat explore the deep structural forces reshaping American politics. They unpack Donald Trump’s return to power, the failures of post-WWII liberalism, and the rise of nationalist populism within the Republican Party. The discussion dives into shifting demographics and how social media and podcasts are influencing political engagem...

In this episode we ask a direct question: if multinational corporations operate like geopolitical actors, should they also think like them? We unpack what a corporate foreign policy could look like, including some real‑world cases from semiconductors, energy, and consumer tech.

In this episode, we unpack the latest economic signals from the United States and China to assess how tariffs are reshaping trade, investment, and supply chains. We explore the securitisation of commerce, rising protectionism, and their wider macro‑economic ripple effects, with a spotlight on rare‑earths. The discussion then shifts to recent UK foreign‑policy moves, including new accords with Fran...

In the second episode of Boardroom Statecraft , we examine why corporations have become prime targets in today’s era of ideological conflict and radicalization. Building on our exploration of the new Gilded Age, this episode unpacks how reputational, ideological, and physical threats are converging to create an unprecedented risk environment for businesses and their leaders. We discuss the collaps...

In this opening episode of Boardroom Statecraft , we explore the parallels between America’s first Gilded Age and the turbulent environment facing companies today. From the rise of robber barons and labor uprisings in the late 1800s to the concentration of economic power in today’s technology giants, the episode traces how inequality, technological disruption, and collapsing public trust have repe...