Despite uncertain global conditions, new surveys find that CEOs are resilient and optimistic in the face of current difficulties and challenges.
Key Details
- Growing inflation, struggling supply chains, financial uncertainty, and global unrest cannot get CEOs down—at least according to a recent Deloitte and Fortune survey.
- Despite these difficulties, 45% of CEOs expect their company’s growth to remain strong in the coming year.
- Even so, 61% say inflation will likely change their business strategy this year. More than half think global unrest could play a role in their plans, and around 48% think labor and skills shortages will be a disruptor.
- CEOs expect the next year will have its challenges, but overall, many are resilient in uncertain conditions.
Why it’s news
Having a strong company leader at the helm during a time of difficulty in a company is one key to success. If CEOs can retain a positive outlook, they are more likely to successfully lead their company through a difficult time.
Around 37% of CEOs surveyed say they are pessimistic about the global economic outlook over the next year. Only 12% say they have an optimistic view. The rest felt neutral, Fortune reports.
When considering their own company, however, only 5% felt pessimistic about the future of their endeavors. Around 63% felt optimistic, and 18% felt very optimistic. Company leaders were also generally optimistic about the future of their respective industries, with 44% saying they feel positive about the future.
Notable quotes
In a Fortune CEO Initiative, CEOs shared further insight into their outlook on the economy and their plans for their companies:
“We’re not shutting stuff down. We’re not pausing stuff. It’s not like it was, you know, a decade ago where we had a real problem, and everybody stopped work,” says West Monroe CEO Kevin McCarty.
“This is not 2007-2008. It’s different … We are not seeing panic at all,” says Thrivent CEO Terry Rasmussen.
Genesys CEO Tony Bates says, “It does kind of reinforce, I don’t want to say optimism, but that … everything is accelerating the need to be transforming your business, and to use innovation and technology to do it.”
“I think there are reasons for resiliency and for optimism. I do think, though, that we have another shoe to drop, at least in the U.S., on commercial real estate,” Insight Enterprises CEO Joyce Mullen said.
