The start of a new decade has not made the world’s chief executives less worrisome about the problems they faced in the past decade. Internally they’re most worried about attracting and retaining talent, while externally they’re afraid of a new recession. This insight comes from a study conducted by The Conference Board.
In total, about 750 CEOs and almost from the annual survey 800 C-Suite executives responded to the survey.The survey participants came primarily from four regions: U.S.A, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. A recession remained a top external worry for a second year in a row, surpassing 2019’s top concern of cybersecurity in the US. Uncertainties about global trade was the number two external overall concern.
Talent retention and attraction continues to be the number one internal problem facing companies everywhere, regardless of location of size. Japan is one notable exception to this, generally ranking their number one internal issue as the development of “next gen” leaders. Dropping neatly into second place overall is the creation of new business models because of disruptive technologies.
“When it comes to creating new business models because of disruptive technologies, there is more urgency among emerging-market CEOs than those in more mature economies,” said The Conference Board’s Chuck Mitchell, Executive Director of Knowledge, Content, and Quality. “This should raise a warning flag about possible complacency considering the current speed of disruption. The truth is that, today, companies no longer enjoy the luxury of a decades-long lead time to adapt to the digital revolution.”
