Chaos, Carbon, Inclusion: The New Playbook for Tech Leaders
In 2025, tech leaders are facing more variables than ever: regulatory disruption, economic unpredictability, and rising ESG scrutiny among them. At first glance, these challenges look like constraints. But for leaders willing to adapt, they offer strategic openings.
This shift is being felt across three core areas: volatility, workforce diversity, and sustainability. All three are forcing companies to rethink how they grow. And together, they are shaping the decisions of the most forward-looking C-suites in Europe and beyond.
One leader who explored this evolving landscape in depth is Maggie Buggie, who was COO of Normative at the time of her conversation on The Tech Space podcast. “We could be at the beginning of one of the biggest shifts in the understanding of business value,” she said. She pointed to a shift in how organisations are now expected to build, operate and deliver value, driven not just by market demands but by broader environmental, regulatory and social expectations.
Volatility Is Not the Enemy. It’s the Engine.
Periods of turbulence often spark outsized growth. The data proves this. Companies like Airbnb, WhatsApp and Slack were all founded during or immediately after the 2008 recession. Their success stories weren’t in spite of the macro chaos, but in part because of it.
That same dynamic is now playing out again. According to 2025 analysis, companies that invest during unstable periods – whether by acquiring new technology, expanding teams or entering markets – outperform those that adopt a wait-and-see approach.
Maggie Buggie echoed this in the podcast. “Chaos creates opportunity”, she said, noting that regulation, consumer behaviour and employee expectations are applying simultaneous pressure on companies. These overlapping forces, she suggested, are part of a broader shift in how businesses are expected to operate. She described this shift as having significant implications for how organisations are built, run and valued
The takeaway for founders and exec teams: volatility is no longer something to mitigate after the fact. It’s part of the operating context. And if leaders treat it as such, it can become a lever for growth rather than a drag on performance.
Diverse Teams Drive Better Outcomes, and the Metrics Are Catching Up
While progress has been made, the representation of women and other underrepresented groups in tech leadership remains far from equal. In 2025, women make up only 25% of the global tech workforce, and just 10% of senior roles. Yet the case for change has never been clearer.
Companies in the top quartile for gender and ethnic diversity are significantly more likely to outperform on profitability. Inclusive teams are also more innovative, more resilient, and faster at making effective decisions.
Normative’s own metrics reflect a commitment to inclusive leadership. “We’re 42% women and we have 48 nationalities”, Buggie noted. “I won’t be happy until it’s 50-50”. Her view is pragmatic, not performative. “Otherwise you end up with people that think the same”.
The broader context supports her approach. In the UK, women now hold 43% of board seats across FTSE 350 companies, a shift achieved without quotas. A new EU directive will soon require at least 40% female representation among non-executive directors, reinforcing that inclusive governance is not just a trend but a baseline expectation.
Buggie also spoke about the broader value of representation in shaping technological futures. “We will not solve any of those [AI or societal] problems if women remain in scarce numbers in our fields”. For companies developing intelligent tools and platforms, the risk of designing for a narrow worldview is not just ethical – it’s commercial.
Carbon Data Is No Longer Optional. It’s a Strategic Asset.
The most dramatic shift of 2025 may be in how businesses treat sustainability- not as a side project or marketing tool, but as core operational intelligence.
New rules across the UK, EU and US are forcing companies to disclose climate risks and emissions data. This includes Scope 3 emissions, which cover indirect impacts across the value chain. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) alone applies to nearly 50,000 companies, including many headquartered outside Europe.
What’s striking is not just the scale of the compliance burden, but the opportunity that lies within it.
“Accurate carbon data has got a massive business value”, said Buggie, describing how Normative’s clients are discovering new insights after establishing their emissions baselines. One telecom client initially approached Normative to meet emissions reporting requirements. According to Buggie, they soon realised that the data could be used to improve operational decisions and shape how they engaged customers on sustainability.
The market is reacting accordingly. The carbon accounting software sector, worth $16 billion in 2023, is expected to reach more than $100 billion by 2032. As of this year, 70% of large global organisations are using some form of emissions tracking software, a sharp rise from 51% just five years ago.
Buggie described how sustainability is now informing decision-making across the C-suite, from marketing and operations to space and process design. She pointed out that boards are also shifting their approach, increasingly treating carbon data as a foundation for better strategic decisions.
What Leaders Can Learn from 2025’s Inflection Point
Each of these trends – volatility, diversity and sustainability – on its own would be enough to trigger strategic rethinks. Taken together, they represent a complete rewiring of how forward-looking businesses create value.
What Maggie Buggie articulated on The Tech Space is that this is not a time for cautious optimisation. It’s a time for clear thinking, bold hiring, and operational reinvention. And critically, it’s a time for leadership that sees complexity not as something to avoid, but as something to navigate with intent.
Buggie emphasised that sustainability is no longer just a compliance issue but a strategic imperative. She described it as both a business necessity and a personal opportunity for leaders to act with clarity and purpose in uncertain times.
Tech leaders who act on that message now, who use carbon data as a strategic lens, who build inclusive and future-fit teams, and who treat disruption as a moment to reset, are likely to define not just their company’s next phase, but their categories.
