Creating Better Futures Lecture Series: Professor Mike Hardy

Public Policy Choices in a Fast-Changing World: Fragmentation, Solidarity, Rupture or Repair?

At this year’s Davos forum, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney argued that the world is experiencing not a transition but a rupture—an accelerated breakdown of the old international order and the uncertain emergence of a new one. The fragilities of the previous global order have been visible for years. Many citizens now feel that traditional institutions—political, economic, and corporate—no longer represent their interests. When organisations fail to prioritise civic responsibility and shared prosperity, they widen this trust deficit and risk losing their social licence to operate.

This shift places unprecedented demands on organisations and the leaders responsible for guiding them through volatility.

Academic and policy communities increasingly frame today’s challenges as “wicked problems” or components of “complex adaptive systems.” The lesson for both public and private sectors is clear: leaders must move beyond treating disruptions as discrete events. Instead, organisations need to build operating models capable of continuous learning, rapid adaptation, and resilience. The path forward requires rebuilding a sense of common purpose. This means articulating not only what and how organisations do, but why they do it and how their decisions contribute to societal resilience.

In this lecture, Coventry University Group's Professor Mike Hardy CMG OBE FRSA reviews his most recent research focusing on public policy choices in this febrile context. He looks directly at both what public leaders need to know, and importantly, what they need to do.

Event details

Date: 25 May 2026
Time: 4:00pm. Registration begins at 3:30pm
Location: PSB Academy Cathay Campus, 2 Handy Road, 05-01 The Cathay, Singapore 229233