Global Scans · Leadership · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT?: Traditional slow, hierarchical leadership models are breaking down to be replaced by more agile systems of decision-making. Consequently, populist leaders are threatening to replace many career politicians while leaders in general are dealing with unprecedented, complex levels and speed of change requiring instant insights and decision-making. Many leaders (middle management) will be lost to automation in the coming years while Millennials will increasingly occupy leadership roles..

• [New] In 2026, China's leadership will 1) prioritize spending on science and technology and national defence 2) neglect spending on social security 3) allow debt interest payments to rise more quickly. Merics
• [New] The RFAs received strong proposals that will promote American leadership in AI and leverage federal land assets to quickly deploy cutting-edge data centers and energy generation projects. Energy.gov
• [New] Singapore and ICAO will sign an agreement to jointly develop and deliver a new global leadership programme on air navigation services for Directors-General of Civil Aviation. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
• [New] IBM will receive $1 billion in planned funding to establish a new quantum foundry subsidiary for quantum-grade superconducting wafers by building on its U.S. leadership in superconducting quantum wafer fabrication technology. National Institute of Standards and Technology
• [New] The CHIPS Research and Development Office's incentives will support and accelerate critical research and manufacturing of technologies for the quantum ecosystem to ensure continued United States leadership and national security. National Institute of Standards and Technology
• [New] Energy and energy-intensive assets are prerequisites to American technological and industrial leadership, which is now threatened by foreign adversaries as well as internal incoherence. American Affairs Journal
• [New] The erosion of domestic scientific capacity, the contraction of global health partnerships, and the underfunding of regulatory agencies pose far greater risks to US biomedical leadership than China's progress. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] The UK is well placed to compete in global markets for adaptation technologies, and that targeted industrial policy support could help translate existing technological leadership into commercial and export advantage. CETEx
• [New] U.S. leadership will depend on spectrum access and domestic drone systems. Broadband Breakfast
• [New] Ankara faced a difficult balancing act: it needed to be harsh enough in its criticism of Israel to satisfy domestic opinion and maintain its leadership credentials in the Muslim world, but not so harsh as to foreclose possible post-conflict opportunities. CIDOB
• [New] Sustained US leadership will depend less on countering China and more on reinvesting in scientific capacity, regulatory excellence, and global health partnerships. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Former FDA Commissioner Gottlieb's perspective, Securing America's Pharmaceutical Innovation Edge, is the most overtly strategic, warning that US underinvestment in the NIH and strain on the FDA threaten to erode America's biomedical leadership at a moment when China is rapidly advancing. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] The most effective WHS programs in Australian workplaces share a few traits: leadership takes it seriously at every level, not just when an audit is coming; workers feel genuinely safe raising concerns without fear of consequences; and training is kept current as the regulatory landscape evolves. Australian Compliance Institute
• [New] The shift in U.S. political leadership brought a fundamental restructuring of cryptocurrency regulation, while global developments in blockchain technology and digital currencies created both opportunities and challenges for legal practitioners. GLI
• [New] The FDA needs 'strong, stable and science-driven leadership' right now, warning that the US is 'losing the biotech race with China'. Chemistry World
• [New] WEF Guatemala 2026 will gather executives, entrepreneurs and emerging leaders in Guatemala City to strengthen female leadership, strategic networking and decision-making across Central America. Guatemala Portal
• [New] We expect Taiwan's leadership to take further steps to strengthen investment in asymmetric capabilities and domestic defence production, which remains essential for long-term deterrence. Vision Times
• [New] U.S. leadership in AI infrastructure and compute provides the United States with substantial ability to shape the geographic distribution of AI capabilities and adoption, as well as an opportunity to make access to U.S. technologies contingent upon alignment with U.S. national security interests. CNAS
• [New] A leadership change will not materially alter the fiscal or Bank of England outlook. investing.com
• [New] Over the next six decades, three major structural developments - dependence on student borrowing, stratified national competition, and leadership on issues of racial justice - have increased the vulnerability of American universities to the risk that Kerr identified. Office of the President
• [New] Oblivious to the dangers of war in a region that is the epicenter of global capitalism, Washington is now proving ever more dangerously disruptive of the global economy, making China look like a far more stable choice for world leadership. Informed Comment

Last updated: 31 May 2026