Disrupted Governance

This Element explores the uncertain future of public policy practice and scholarship in an age of radical disruption. Building on foundational ideas in policy sciences, we argue that an anachronistic instrumental rationalism underlies contemporary policy logic and limits efforts to understand new policy challenges. We consider whether the policy sciences framework can be reframed to facilitate deeper understandings of this anachronistic epistemic, in anticipation of a research agenda about epistemic destabilization and contestation. The Element applies this theoretical provocation to environmental policy and sustainability, issues about which policymaking proceeds amid unpredictable contexts and rising sociopolitical turbulence that portend a liminal state in the transition from one way of thinking to another. The Element concludes by contemplating the fate of policy's epistemic instability, anticipating what policy understandings will emerge in a new system, and questioning the degree to which either presages a seismic shift in the relationship between policy and society.

In Beyond Disruption: Technology's Challenge to Governance, George P. Shultz, Jim Hoagland, and James Timbie present views from some of the country's top experts in the sciences, humanities, and military that scrutinize the rise of post-millennium technologies in today's global society. They contemplate both the benefits and peril carried by the unprecedented speed of these innovations—from genetic editing, which enables us new ways to control infectious diseases, to social media, whose ubiquitous global connections threaten the function of democracies across the world. Some techniques, like the advent of machine learning, have enabled engineers to create systems that will make us more productive. For example, self-driving vehicles promise to make trucking safer, faster, and cheaper. However, using big data and artificial intelligence to automate complex tasks also ends up threatening to disrupt both routine professions like taxi driving and cognitive work by accountants, radiologists, lawyers, and even computer programmers themselves.

Innovation in information and production technologies is creating benefits and disruption, profoundly altering how firms and markets perform. Digital DNA provides an in depth examination of the opportunities and challenges in the fast-changing global economy and lays out strategies that countries and the international community should embrace to promote robust growth while addressing the risks of this digital upheaval. Wisely guiding the transformation in innovation is a major challenge for global prosperity that affects everyone. Peter Cowhey and Jonathan Aronson demonstrate how the digital revolution is transforming the business models of high tech industries but also of traditional agricultural, manufacturing, and service sector firms. The rapidity of change combines with the uncertainty of winners and losers to create political and economic tensions over how to adapt public policies to new technological and market surprises. The logic of the policy trade-offs confronting society, and the political economy of practical decision-making is explored through three developments: The rise of Cloud Computing and trans-border data flows; international collaboration to reduce cybersecurity risks; and the consequences of different national standards of digital privacy protection. The most appropriate global strategies will recognize that a significant diversity in individual national policies is inevitable. However, because digital technologies operate across national boundaries there is also a need for a common international baseline of policy fundamentals to facilitate "quasi-convergence" of these national policies. Cowhey and Aronson's examination of these dynamic developments lead to a measured proposal for authoritative "soft rules" that requires governments to create policies that achieve certain objectives, but leaves the specific design to national discretion. These rules should embrace mechanisms to work with expert multi-stakeholder organizations to facilitate the implementation of formal agreements, enhance their political legitimacy and technical expertise, and build flexible learning into the governance regime. The result will be greater convergence of national policies and the space for the new innovation system to flourish.

In Beyond Disruption: Technology's Challenge to Governance, experts from academia, media, government, and the military wrestle with understanding the nature of these technologies' threats to our societies and their great potential for our economies. In a series of vivid analyses and colorful commentary from a conference as Stanford University's Hoover Institution, the authors expand upon their first-hand interpretations of what's at stake for the global operating system in the midst of turbulent change. In the dynamic game of world order, it's a primer for decision makers on where the puck is headed.

Data governance is broken. Its time we fix it. Why is data governance so ineffective? The truth is data governance programs arent designed for the way we run our data teams, they arent even designed for a modern organization at all. They were designed when reports still came through inter-office mail. The flow of data into, within, and out of todays organizations is a tsunami breaking through rigid data governance methods. Yet our programs still rely on that command and control approach. Have you ever tried to control a tsunami? Every organization that uses data knows that they need a data governance program. Data literacy efforts and legislation like GDPR have become the bellwethers for our governance functions. But we still sit in data governance meetings without enough people and too many questions to move things forward. Theres no agility to the program because we imply a degree of frailty to the data that doesnt exist. We continue to insist on archaic methods that bring no value to our organizations. Achieving deep insights from data cant happen without good governance practices. All indicators point to the need to create a resilient and responsive data governance function. Where we go from here, and how we achieve success in data governance requires a radically different way. The hard truth: its time to challenge everything we know about data governance. Laura Madsen shows you how to redefine governance for the modern age. With a casual, witty style Madsen taps on her decades of experience, shares interviews with other best-in-field experts and grounds her perspective in research. Witness where it all fell apart, challenge long-held beliefs, and commit to a fundamental shiftthat governance is not about stopping or preventing usage but about supporting the usage of data. Be able to bring back trust and value to our data governance functions, and learn the: People-driven approach to governance; Processes that support the tsunami of data; Cutting edge technology thats enabling data governance.

No boardroom in any industry is safe from new market threats in this time of rapid technological growth. We’ve all heard the stories of corruption by CEOs at WeWork and Theranos and witnessed whistleblowers revealing crises at Wells Fargo and Uber. The board’s responsibility in this time shifts from protecting not just shareholders, but all stakeholders. Disruption in the Boardroom delves into the details of modern corporations and how governance and oversight can lead us into an evolving digital future. Corporate culture is changing every day, and everybody at the top—from senior executives of well-funded startups to decades old stalwarts of industries—are being watched more closely than ever Disruption in the Boardroom calls for leaders to embrace intellectual honesty, moral courage, and a discipline for continuous learning in order to have good corporate governance. Author Jennifer Wolfe addresses questions that hit home for present and future board members, the overarching one being: how can a handful of people successfully oversee a company and the entirety of its actions? This book details case studies of past mistakes and lessons from current board members and provides expert insights on how to structure future governance. Disruption in the Boardroom walks you through stories of both triumphs and errors in crucial decisions made by boards of companies you know well. Whether you are a senior executive, a corporate board director, or simply a curious reader on the topic of business decisions of the current day, Wolfe’s expertise provides you with invaluable knowledge that you deserve to have on your bookshelf. The "move fast and break things" mentality has disrupted every industry, and it will only continue to shift the way we as a business culture approach the future of work. Don’t fall behind. What You Will Learn Take a look at good and bad examples of how board members at different companies have dealt with emerging issues Understand the changing role of the board Examine how new technologies are rapidly change business models Who This Book is For Senior executives, VCs and private equity associates, corporate board directors and curious readers.

The current business context of disruptive, accelerated change requires a new framework for understanding how boards of directors can best support their organizations. In this book, Professor Jordi Canals presents a new model of effective governance, positioning the board of directors as the steward of the firm's future development, and focusing on the notion of corporate purpose. Canals argues that boards of directors should focus on strategy and corporate transformation, CEO and senior management development and succession, the board and the firm's culture, the board as a team, the engagement of shareholders and critical stakeholders, and the firm's overall impact. Moreover, for boards to be effective, directors must develop new competencies. Drawing on well-grounded theory and international case studies, this book outlines a new, holistic model of boards of directors, offering a pathway to effective governance that will enhance companies' reputation and success.

Innovation in information and production technologies is generating both benefits and disruption, rapidly altering how firms and markets perform as a basic level. Digital DNA is an engaging examination of the opportunities, challenges, and ways that countries and the international community can govern developments for broad benefit.