2027 Brief · Board & trustee leadership

Shaping the Future, Trustee to Trustee

Making better decisions in a faster world. 18-month decisions. 70-year promises.

How a broad future-of-change brief became a focused conversation about governance, assumptions, judgment and the decisions trustees must make in a faster world.

DOWNLOAD THE BRIEF (PDF)BUILD A BRIEF FOR MY EVENT

← All 2027 Briefs

The brief, slide by slide

2027 Brief slide 1: Shaping the Future, Trustee to Trustee. Making better decisions in a faster world. 18-month decisions, 70-year promises.
Slide 1
2027 Brief slide 2: The world around your board is speeding up. The risk is not the future; it is outdated assumptions.
Slide 2
2027 Brief slide 3: Your job isn't to innovate. It's to be ready. Innovation happens around trustees; your job is governance.
Slide 3
2027 Brief slide 4: Ready for what? The forces coming at your board: assumptions, funding, complexity, AI, cyber, longevity, workforce, scrutiny.
Slide 4
2027 Brief slide 5: The big trends trustees need to think about. You do not need all the answers; you need to know what to ask.
Slide 5
2027 Brief slide 6: Assumptions. Rates, inflation, returns. The question: are our assumptions still right?
Slide 6
2027 Brief slide 7: The real danger: making a 2027 decision with a 2017 mental model.
Slide 7
2027 Brief slide 8: What's coming at you in the next 18 months? The issue is not arrival. It is readiness.
Slide 8
2027 Brief slide 9: The most important future skill: better questions.
Slide 9
2027 Brief slide 10: Don't confuse more information with better judgment.
Slide 10
2027 Brief slide 11: The generational handoff. Transfer judgment, not just information.
Slide 11
2027 Brief slide 12: Guardians of a generational promise: the future-ready trustee.
Slide 12

The thinking behind the slides

01The Audience

Trustees of defined-benefit pension plans: the people who make decisions on 18-month cycles about promises that run for 70 years. They govern with advisers and staff, and they answer to members and the public.

02The Challenge

The world around the board is speeding up: faster volatility, AI reshaping analysis, workforce shifts that change assumptions and public scrutiny that changes the context. The risk is not the future. It is outdated assumptions.

Don't make 2027 decisions with a 2017 model. Innovation happens around trustees; their job is governance, and governance means being ready.

03The Forces Reshaping Their World

AssumptionsRates, inflation, returns
FundingDiscipline beats prediction
ComplexityMore products, more risk
AIFinance, administration, oversight
CyberOperational risk is fiduciary risk
LongevityLonger retirements
WorkforceContributors are changing
ScrutinyExplaining the DB promise

In the next 18 months: AI in finance, cybersecurity risk, market volatility, complex products, workforce shifts and DB plan scrutiny. The issue is not arrival. It is readiness.

04The Questions Leaders Need to Ask

  • Are our assumptions still right?
  • What's changed?
  • Which assumptions matter?
  • What could go wrong?
  • What are we missing?
  • What haven't we asked?

You do not need all the answers. You need to know what to ask.

05The Keynote Direction

Not a technology lecture. A keynote about governance: asking the right questions, using advisers well, understanding what matters and making clear decisions.

Don't confuse more information with better judgment. AI creates more analysis, data will be abundant and confident answers will be cheap. Judgment is the trustee edge: separating signal from noise.

The generational handoff. Transfer judgment, not just information: preserve institutional memory, build confidence in new trustees, make mentorship intentional and treat continuity as risk management.

“Good leaders do not manufacture certainty. They provide clarity when certainty is impossible.”

06What They Leave With

A picture of the future-ready trustee, the guardian of a generational promise:

  • Stay curious
  • Challenge assumptions
  • Ask better questions
  • Learn from experience
  • Keep the promise in focus

You do not have to predict the future. You have to be ready to govern when it arrives.

The Future Looks Different from the Board Table.

A board does not need another technology lecture. It needs to know which assumptions are expiring, which questions it should be asking and where judgment matters most. That is why Jim builds the keynote around the decisions the people in the room are actually responsible for.

BUILD A BRIEF FOR MY EVENTDOWNLOAD THE PDF

More 2027 Briefs: Paving the Future · Farming 2036