PwC’s latest Global CEO Survey reveals that chief executives are significantly less confident about the short-term growth outlook for their companies and more worried about a range of threats, including macroeconomic volatility, cyber risk and geopolitical conflict, yet are at the same time pressing ahead with multiyear strategies to reinvent their businesses.
Navigating such a complex environment places a premium on leadership agility, including the ability to move quickly between issues, opportunities, and time horizons. The report finds that CEOs spend nearly half (47%) of their time on issues with time horizons of less than one year – three times more than the 16% dedicated to activities with a horizon of more than five years. It underscores the importance of not letting near-term threats dominate top management’s focus at a time when the long-term forces that are reshaping business need attention now.
