NACD Boardtalk™ | Jim DeLoach | May 2022
Two recent global studies offer important insights into CEOs as a group. Both studies suggest that many CEOs are facing formidable challenges. In the first study, CEOs rated the relative riskiness of the business environment higher for 2022 than directors and other C-suite executives did. Also, the number of risks that CEOs said would have a significant impact on their businesses increased from four in 2021 to 13 in 2022 (of 36 risks studied in the survey), more risks than any other C-suite executive. In contrast, directors rated none of these 13 risks as expected to have a significant impact in 2022. Examples of risks rated as expected to have a “significant impact” by CEOs relate to such matters as the future of work and the workplace, acquiring and retaining talent, rising labor costs, the economy, supply chain disruptions, access to capital, digital innovation, ongoing pandemic concerns, and loss of market share to new market entrants.
