Eye in the sky: Launching a geopolitical risk unit

| McKinsey Direct

In October 2023, amid a rise in global tension that has not been seen in a generation or more, intelligence leaders from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, collectively known as the “Five Eyes,” gave an unprecedented joint interview.1 Together, the group delivered a message to Western multinational corporations: “You may not be interested in geopolitics, but geopolitics is interested in you.”

They explained that in an era of major power and technological competition, businesses have an obligation to not only upgrade their understanding of geopolitics but also play better defense in securing their data and IP and reducing market overdependencies. Global businesses recognize the stakes. With ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East, strategic competition in Asia, and a wave of global elections in 2024, business leaders now view geopolitics as their top risk according to a recent McKinsey Global Survey.

Organizations can either preemptively adjust in a changing world or else react and have world events dictate the impact on them

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