Strengthen your geopolitical expertise for sharper board oversight
Geopolitics for Boards
Strengthen your geopolitical expertise for sharper board oversight
The geopolitical order has changed, and the forces driving it are here to stay. Great-power competition, the weaponization of economic interdependence, and the erosion of multilateralism and the European Single Market have made geopolitics a first-order concern for many boards. Yet most directors built their experience during an earlier era of global stability and conventional risk management tools were never designed for this type of uncertainty.
IMD’s Geopolitics for Boards bridges that gap, equipping current and aspiring board members with insights and tools to ask the right questions, recognize geopolitical risk and opportunity, and govern with clarity under uncertainty.
Through a combination of expert insight, practitioner wisdom, and peer exchange, you will leave with a clearer geopolitical lens, a stronger grasp of the exposure of the companies you oversee, and the confidence to lead your board through complexity and crisis.
Developed in collaboration with the IMD Global Board Center, this program is grounded in the latest insights and best practices.
You can join the program for a standalone learning experience, or as part of one of IMD’s board diploma pathways.
Understanding the landscape and building your radar
- The Geopolitical Landscape: Establish what geopolitics is, why global upheaval endures, and why it represents a profound break from the era that shaped most board careers.
- Sense-Making in an Era of Deep Uncertainty: Explore how geopolitical competition changes the objectives and tools of governments and develop a new mental model for reasoning under deep uncertainty.
- Building Your Geopolitical Radar and Sonar: Discover the practices, tools, and habits that keep boards informed over time, including AI-enabled monitoring, and begin drafting your personal action plan.
- Business Continuity and Weaponized Interdependence: Examine how supply chains, payment systems, and value chains can become instruments of coercion and assess the systemic vulnerabilities facing the companies you oversee.
- Dinner with a speaker who has navigated a major geopolitical crisis first-hand.
From exposure to oversight and crisis governance
- Asset Protection in a Geopolitical Environment: Assess threats to physical assets, intellectual property, and people in contested jurisdictions, and identify the board questions that determine whether management’s protective measures are in place.
- Counterintelligence, Cyber Risk, and the Erosion of Legal Frameworks: Examine the internal protocols boards must require of management, and address the question of whether contracts, arbitration, and compliance frameworks remain adequate when legal protections are contested.
- Crisis Governance: Through simulation, practice board decision-making under time pressure with incomplete information, and prepare to work with the executive team when normal governance rhythms are suspended.
- Building Geopolitical Muscle: Define the geopolitical capabilities the companies you oversee need to develop and design the board’s own plan for collective geopolitical learning over time.
Experience IMD for yourself
Join a complementary masterclass or information session and dive into topics such as leadership, AI, strategy, and more. You’ll discover more about how we teach and explore our executive programs along the way. See all upcoming IMD events.
“The board that develops genuine geopolitical competence is not merely protecting returns—it is fulfilling its deepest obligation as steward of an institution that faces pronounced global upheaval”
Simon J Evenett is Professor of Geopolitics and Strategy at IMD. A globally recognized expert on trade, investment, and geopolitical dynamics, he is a leading analyst of the global business environment. For almost 30 years, he has guided board members, senior executives, EMBAs, and MBAs in understanding the significant shifts in the worldwide business environment and their implications for firm operations, performance, and strategy. In 2023, he was appointed Co-Chair of the World Economic…
Simon J Evenett is Professor of Geopolitics and Strategy at IMD. A globally recognized expert on trade, investment, and geopolitical dynamics, he is a leading analyst of the global business environment. For almost 30 years, he has guided board members, senior executives, EMBAs, and MBAs in…
Simon J Evenett is Professor of Geopolitics and Strategy at IMD. A globally recognized expert on trade, investment, and geopolitical dynamics, he is a leading analyst of the global business environment. For almost 30 years, he has guided board…
Length: 2 days on campus
Application deadline closes seven days before the session starts.
All fees quoted are exclusive of any value-added or other indirect taxes that may be due in any country.
IMD reserves the right to modify the program dates, location, and fee at any time.
Read more about IMD’s admissions policy and general terms & conditions. View full details
Make your mark in the boardroom with IMD’s board diplomas, for aspiring or seasoned board members.
Two pathways to board excellence
Make your mark in the boardroom with IMD’s board diplomas, for aspiring or seasoned board members.
