Disruptive thinking through uncertainty: Key takeaways from the Livingbridge CEO & Chair Summit 2024

Last month, the Livingbridge CEO & Chair Summit brought together leading business operators with voices from across the private equity space. The theme of the day-long event was ‘disruptive thinking through uncertainty’, and featured interactive roundtable debates, presentations and panel discussions on associated thematic topics.

Contributors included Hamish Taylor, former CEO of Eurostar and Sainsbury’s Bank; Ken Fowlie, Executive Chair of Stowe Family Law; Mark Humphries, PE-backed Chair and M&A specialist; and Ronan Kavanagh, CEO of TitanHQ. Livingbridge Managing Partner, Wol Kolade, and our Partner & CIO, Shani Zindel, were joined by Partners from our team and cross-sector experts including Louise Allen, CEO of GK Strategy, a leading independent strategic research and communications agency.

Here we round up some of our top takeaways from the day of wide-ranging discussions.

1. When it comes to value creation in these uncertain times, leadership is everything

Livingbridge Managing Partner, Wol Kolade, outlined how in today’s macro environment, leaders of businesses and funds need to think creatively to deliver growth.

He said: “This environment presents a challenge for how we all operate as leaders. However, as leaders we should be finding ways of bringing disruptive thinking to take advantage of opportunities and drive value creation, despite the uncertainty.”

2. How to ensure you’re prepared to deal with a cyber attack

In today’s environment it’s a case of “when” not “if”. To stay prepared businesses should:

i) Make sure you’ve got a skilled in-house team and all policies and protocols in place
The most important factor is having a team that knows “the minutiae” of the products and can stay calm in an emergency. Making sure your customer data integrity and communications pathways are in tip-top shape.

ii) Get robust cyber insurance so that you can inexpensively bring in third parties to help in the moment

iii) Schedule quarterly exercises where you thoroughly role-play cyber attacks and responses - and continuously iterate your security measures

For example, run full-day attack scenarios every quarter. Even if you have the best security measures in place, it’s vital to assume they’re not enough and keep iterating and testing as the landscape continuously evolves.

3. As landscapes shift, it’s worth investing in incorporating political risk management into your business strategy

Louise Allen, CEO of GK Strategy, gave a fascinating talk on the new UK political landscape under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and what it means for business. Several of the key learnings are also applicable across other geographies.

Louise explained that the forthcoming Autumn Budget on 30th October is one of the most critical in recent years, with potential capital gains tax and wider reforms on the table, including employment law overhaul.

Against this backdrop, the expert urged business leaders to actively incorporate political risk management into their long-term strategy, and to strengthen HR teams to ensure they’re fully prepared to handle any major changes in employment policies. 

4. Preparation is more critical than ever when it comes to exit processes

Uncertainty has also pervaded the deal environment, with transaction processes taking longer to complete and a substantially higher bar for due diligence.

In this context, the M&A and investment specialists on our ‘managing the changing requirements of exit’ panel reflected on the importance of resilience during a process.

“As a leader, your personal resilience and personal leadership is really important. Any [exit] process is a rollercoaster, but in this environment it’s more intense.” noted Ken Fowlie, Executive Chair of Stowe Family Law (recently acquired by Investcorp from Livingbridge)

The panellists also shared wider exit strategy tips, including to conduct pre-mortem analyses to identify and address any potential issues before they arise. Mark Humphries, PE-backed Chair and M&A specialist, said: “Help your team rehearse, get everyone in the room and ask the toughest questions you could ever imagine, and don't leave the room until you've got good answers.”