{
  "id": 6375420,
  "title": "‘Failure is a data point’: Executives say flexibility, not certainty, is what’s needed in a turbulent world",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/failure-is-a-data-point-executives-say-flexibility-not-certainty-is",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-09T02:36:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/08/leaders-stop-predicting-build-adaptability/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Executives are urging businesses to embrace flexibility over certainty in today’s unpredictable environment. Carol Liao, chair of BCG Greater China, urges leaders to \"enhance the muscle of adaptability\" instead of trying to forecast outcomes. Chanda Beppu, president of Starbucks Asia Pacific, agrees, stating that companies should focus on what matters most to their business and teams rather than attempting to create certainty about what’s to come. Feroz Sheikh, CIO at Syngenta Group, added that failure should be embraced as a \"data point\" and not feared. Sheikh also encouraged businesses to adopt a \"culture of experimentation\" and see short-term failure as an opportunity to learn. Building flexibility is particularly important for Chinese companies navigating generational shifts and global expansion, as companies move from simple international sales to true multinational operations. The Chinese EV sector serves as an example of this transformation, with companies building global supply chains and expanding beyond exporting products. To succeed in this new reality, leaders must move away from \"command and control\" leadership styles and adopt a more flexible, \"distributed decision making\" approach that tolerates failure and encourages experimentation.",
  "summary": "Leaders should focus less on forecasting and more on building organizations that can change course quickly.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}