With less than three weeks to go until the U.S. election, there are plenty of domestic issues occupying business leaders’ attention. But let’s pause for a moment to consider the impact of geopolitical challenges. Those issues keep coming up in the conversations here at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, which wraps up today.
The U.S. has ordered Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk losing weapons funding. Canada and India have expelled each other’s top diplomats as tensions rise over the Indian government’s alleged assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered interest-rate cuts to stimulate his economy at home while extending an olive branch to whoever wins the White House. Russia is doubling down on the war against Ukraine, with support from North Korea.
One impact, according to Andreessen Horowitz general partner Katherine Boyle, is a growing nationalism among founders motivated by a desire to deter war and bolster America’s national security. Said Boyle: “The war in Ukraine changed everything about how young people think about the Department of Defense’s work, and really the important mission of deterrence and making sure that we invest in the next technologies.”
On an operational level, there’s concern about volatile supply chains, cyber-warfare, dueling tech stacks, recruitment challenges, rising costs, and employee safety. The U.S. fined Lufthansa $4 million for stopping a group of Jewish passengers from boarding a flight in Frankfurt after they had flown to Germany from New York. As strategist Tina Fordham said in a virtual conversation hosted by Fortune in partnership with Diligent for the Fortune Director Roundtable Series: “Geopolitics is about power. Power first, money comes after.” For business leaders, it’s arguably the opposite.
But much of yesterday’s conversation centered on the personal: Halle Berry’s crusade to get support for menopause care, Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s disappointment over the court’s decisions on affirmative action and Roe v. Wade, the efforts of producer Debra Martin Chase to bring more diversity to the big screen and Guild founder Rachel Romer’s painful journey back from a debilitating stroke, and AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li’s reflections on having her groundbreaking contributions overshadowed by men.
Through it all was a theme that’s recognized by senior executives of every gender: Leadership involves tough choices. “This notion of balance sets you up to think that you can have it all at the same time,” said Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett.
Join us this morning for editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell’s conversation with General Motors CEO Mary Barra, who is No. 1 on this year’s Fortune Most Powerful Women list.
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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