Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk into Resilience and Value.

• Author: Brownstein, Howard Brod
• Position: BOARDBOOK: Boardroom Reads

Andrea Bonime-Blanc, a well-known writer and speaker in the corporate governance community, wrote Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Bisk into Besilience and Value (Routledge, 2020) in 2018-19, before the COVID-19 crisis. A global pandemic was just a possible item on lists of theoret-ical atypical and potentially disruptive risks that boards were admonished to consider when ful-filling their oversight role of a company's risk management. It is hard to think of a better time for this valuable book and its important message.

The author characterizes her book--the latest in a series she has written on risk-related topics--as "a journey from a place of turbulence to a place of constructive empowerment and reliance." The critical element and catalyst along the way is leadership, the importance of which cannot be overestimated when confronting rapid change and unexpected risks, such as the COVID-19 crisis.

In her introduction to the "gloom" section of the book, the author describes 10 megatrends that characterize the recent past and present. Prominent among these are the rapidity of technological change--what she calls the "Fourth Industrial Revolution"--as well as the specter of unaddressed climate change and the ongoing paradigmatic shift toward stakeholder capitalism. The latter is often referred to as "ESG"--environmental, social and governance concerns. The author introduces an additional dimension to this familiar catchword--"technology," signifying the importance of the aforementioned ongoing rapid technological change as a critical factor in leadership, and refers throughout the book to "ESGT."

Bonime-Blanc's book is well-researched and contains tables and graphics gleaned from numerous research sources, all appropriately and voluminously footnoted, as well as many that the author has developed herself. Each area of risk she discusses includes a "core concept" along with "the danger and the risk" describing the issue, followed by "the promise and the opportunity," a "thought bubble" and a "leadership to-do" item. One is reminded of the oft-repeated meme regarding the Chinese symbol for crisis combining the symbols for danger and opportunity.

The author does a very deep dive into how leadership and culture can potentially play a key role in the conversion of each risk area to opportunity, citing some familiar high-profile cases like Theranos, The Weinstein Company and Tesla, but also others that may be less well-known. And board...