Building Geopolitical Muscle 2026

You really need someone who is either a dedicated geopolitical person or who wears the geopolitical hat and has a senior adviser on their team who’s a full-time geopolitical expert. They should be accountable to a permanent member of the management team or very close to the CEO, with a direct line to decision-makers. Head of Geopolitical Advisory at a global investment bank2.3 Designing the operating model When designing the operating model, one of the first questions companies face is where the function should sit. However, its influence depends less on formal location than on how effectively it coordinates across functions and connects with decision- makers. In practice, more than half of the companies interviewed house their geopolitical capability within government or corporate affairs. Fewer than 20% have established a dedicated geopolitics or international relations function reporting directly to the CEO. Regardless of configuration, one success factor remains constant: proximity to the CEO. Direct access to leadership ensures relevance, speed and authority in moments of disruption. Beyond the “host function”, there are four main operating model archetypes to design the geopolitical muscle. Positioning operating model archetypes by resource intensiveness FIGURE 6 Part-time (low % of time)Permanent (high % of time)Large core team (high number of resources mobilized) Small core team (low number of resources mobilized)Command cell(s) Agile cross-functional teams mobilized rapidly on specific geopolitical disruptionsNerve centre Permanent team embedded in decision-making processes and orchestrating geopolitical inputs Watch tower Insight-focused unit scanning global risks and briefing leadership with foresightInfluence network Senior adviser(s) shaping strategy through relationships and informal coordination Source: Executive interviews – World Economic Forum, IMD Business School, BCG analysis Building Geopolitical Muscle: How Companies Turn Insights into Strategic Advantage 17