Our new report, “It Starts with the CEO,” interprets the views and opinions of almost 1,000 CEOs all over the world, representing $3.7 trillion in revenue. What they shared is that they know expectations of them are at an all-time high as they are being asked to expand their leadership role to embrace a far wider group of stakeholders, demanding more than just strong financial results. How exactly they can meet these evolving demands is the challenge they are now grappling with.
Today’s CEOs need to be exceedingly accessible, engaged, and likable leaders. Increasingly, they are being asked to weigh in on and potentially impact matters beyond the more expected topics—social and climate issues chief among them. As such, CEOs are in a transitional phase, working to expand their capacity to respond to these ever-increasing demands and balance the totality of expectations placed upon them. “The role of the CEO is to constantly adapt and transform both themselves and the organization with the fast-changing world,” one CEO elaborated. “It is iterative and always moving.”