LinkedInยทWednesday, 12 August 2026ยท14d ago
As the solar eclipse darkens the sky this week, one question should darken every boardroom: what are we failing to see until it is tooโฆ
Joris Claes
CEO @ Spectr | Turning XR/BIM into Real Business Results | Interim Executive & Transformation Leader (15+ yrs) | Scale-up, Restructuring & M&A Advisory | Board Governance
As the solar eclipse darkens the sky this week, one question should darken every boardroom: what are we failing to see until it is too late?
๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด.
What if the greatest risk in your boardroom is not what you cannot see, but what you believe you already understand? Today, a solar eclipse will briefly change our view of the sun. Nothing changes about the sun itself. But our perspective does.
European boardrooms face a similar moment in 2026.
The agenda is no longer primarily about compliance. It is about ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ.
For industrial technology, software and manufacturing companies, the blind spots are increasingly clear:
- AI: not another pilot, but a measurable value agenda (new revenue, productivity and customer impact) supported by clear governance around data, IP, model risk, ownership and human oversight. The EU AI Act has become broadly applicable from 2 August 2026, making this a genuine board-level responsibility.
- Cyber and digital sovereignty: cyber resilience is business continuity, not an IT issue. Can the business withstand a serious cyber or cloud outage for 72 hours? And how exposed are we to critical non-European cloud, AI and software dependencies? NIS2 reinforces the EUโs resilience expectations for critical sectors.
- Geopolitics, energy and supply chains: energy costs, strategic components, trade friction and single-source suppliers now directly shape margin, delivery reliability and investment decisions.
- ESG: less reporting for reportingโs sake; more focus on the economics of transitionโenergy efficiency, circularity, access to capital, customer requirements and resilience. EU sustainability reporting and due-diligence rules have been simplified, but the commercial demands from banks, customers and supply-chain partners remain.
-Talent and leadership: AI adoption changes roles, skills and workforce planning. This puts succession, board composition and leadership capacity firmly back on the strategic agenda.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐, ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐: ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ, ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐.
So, what is currently eclipsing your boardโs view: AI risk, cyber exposure, supply-chain dependency, energy economics, or leadership capacity?
#BoardOfDirectors #CorporateGovernance #AI #CyberSecurity #XR #IndustrialTransformation #Resilience #Investors
โฅ 6๐ฌ 8
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