Today, MCC is responsible for preserving the heritage and traditions of the game while ensuring that Lord’s continues to evolve for modern members, visitors, and fans. That challenge will feel familiar to many organisations: how do you evolve without losing what makes you distinctive?
For organisations with long histories, strong cultures, and established ways of working, change is rarely just about adopting new technology. The harder question is often how to embrace new possibilities while preserving the qualities that people value most.
It’s a question that resonates strongly across the insurance market, and it was at the heart of our latest Digital Minds Alumni event at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Hosted in partnership with CGI, MCC’s Official Technology Partner, the event brought together alumni, Advisory Board members, sponsors, and guests from across the market to explore how one of the world’s most historic sporting institutions is navigating change.
Looking beyond insurance
One of the seven behaviours of the EDII Digital Mindset™ is Outside-In Aware: Look Beyond Insurance.
It’s easy for any industry to look primarily within its own boundaries for ideas, solutions, and examples. Yet many of the challenges organisations face today are not unique to insurance. Across sectors, leaders are grappling with changing customer expectations, emerging technologies, legacy systems, operational pressures, and the need to bring people with them through change.
Looking beyond your own industry can provide a different perspective on familiar challenges. It can reveal assumptions that have gone unchallenged and highlight approaches that might otherwise have been overlooked.
That is precisely what made the visit to Lord’s so valuable.
CGI’s work across multiple sectors creates opportunities to bring those broader perspectives into the Digital Minds Alumni community. As MCC’s Official Technology Partner, CGI is supporting the Club’s ongoing modernisation, helping enhance the experiences of members and visitors while preserving the heritage that makes Lord’s unique. Read more about CGI’s partnership with MCC and Lord’s.
Knowing what to change, and what not to
We heard from MCC leaders Andy Muggleton and Jeff Wollen about the work taking place behind the scenes at Lord’s Cricket Ground. While Lord’s is the venue itself, MCC is the club responsible for its stewardship and future development. They shared the decisions involved in modernising an organisation with roots dating back to 1787 while protecting the history and character that make Lord’s one of the world’s most iconic sporting venues.
The discussion was about far more than technology. It explored how organisations balance tradition and innovation, reach new audiences while continuing to serve existing ones, and improve efficiency without diminishing the experiences and relationships that people value.
Perhaps most importantly, it raised a question that is relevant to any organisation experiencing change: what should be preserved, and what genuinely needs to evolve?
The parallels with insurance were difficult to miss. One guest captured the discussion particularly well afterwards: knowing what to change, and knowing what not to.
The challenge is not change for its own sake. It is having the judgement to identify which traditions continue to create value, which practices are holding organisations back, and how technology can support meaningful progress without becoming the focus in itself.
Putting the Digital Mindset™ to work
Following the discussion, attendees took part in an interactive Digital Mindset session that encouraged them to reflect on the behaviours and assumptions that can either support or obstruct change.
The conversation touched on many of the behaviours that sit at the heart of the EDII Digital Mindset™, including Critical Thinking, Commercial Curiosity, Outside-In Aware, and Comfort with Uncertainty.
Participants explored questions such as:
• Are we challenging what has been assumed rather than proven?
• Are we looking beyond our own market for new ideas and perspectives?
• Are we curious enough about technology to understand its possibilities and limitations?
• Can we move forward when we do not yet have every answer?
• Are we thinking about the people experiencing change, not just the systems being changed?
They’re questions that apply far beyond insurance. Which, in many ways, was the point.
More than just a visit
Of course, no trip to Lord’s would be complete without experiencing the ground itself. The afternoon included a behind-the-scenes tour of the ground, Pavilion, and iconic balcony, along with plenty of opportunities for conversation and connection across the market.
But the real value of the experience came from stepping outside familiar environments and taking the time to see shared challenges through a different lens.
Our alumni, sponsors, and guests all have demanding roles. Choosing to step away from day-to-day responsibilities, engage with people from different organisations, and learn from experiences beyond insurance reflects the curiosity and openness that underpin the Digital Mindset™.
That is an important part of what the Digital Minds Alumni community is designed to support. The learning does not stop when a programme ends. Through shared experiences, new perspectives, and ongoing connections, the community helps alumni continue developing the behaviours and judgement needed to navigate an industry that is constantly evolving.
Because sometimes, to see your own industry differently, you need to step outside it.