Geopolitics is no longer just background noise — it's now central to how organisations plan, invest and manage risk. In this episode, foreign affairs expert Merriden Varrall, joins Boardroom Confidential to unpack what today's "polycrisis" world really means for directors.

Drawing on her experience at KPMG, the Lowy Institute and the UN in China, Merriden explains why boards must look beyond daily headlines to the deeper megatrends: converging climate, energy and food risks; the erosion of trust in institutions and the rise of populism; and a fragmenting global economy shaped by national security and values-based blocs. She explores the practical implications for Australian boards — from managing exposure to the US–China rivalry and rebuilding supply chain resilience, to understanding how these dynamics affect SMEs and NFPs.

Merriden also outlines how boards can become more geopolitically literate: the questions to ask management, how to set up horizon scanning and scenario planning, and why a more nuanced understanding of other countries' perspectives is now essential to good governance.

Key Themes:

• From headlines to megatrends — directors need to look past daily news and focus on structural geopolitical scenarios and megatrends.

• Polycrisis as the new normal — risks like climate, energy, food, tech and conflict are increasingly interconnected and compounding.

• Trust gap and populism — erosion of trust in institutions and the rise of populism are reshaping regulation, policy and expectations of business.

• Geo-economic fragmentation — values-based blocs, national security logic and "de-risking" are changing trade, investment and tech choices.

• It's not just big corporates — SMEs and NFPs are exposed through supply chains, cyber risk, regulation, funding and talent.

• Boards' core questions — are we thinking about geopolitics, how are we monitoring it, what scenarios have we planned for, and are our responses sufficient?

• Supply chain resilience — having "just in case" models ready, mapping choke points, and setting up data and signals to act early.

S3E7 – Polycrisis and Boards: Merriden Varrall on the geopolitical risk directors can't ignore

Boardroom Confidential