gradient line
Business
/
Insight
/
2 minute read

CEOs remain focused on navigating through uncertainty

Despite geopolitical disruption and looming economic concerns, today’s CEOs demonstrate incredible resilience through their ability to navigate external factors and continue to explore and invest in emerging technologies. Below are highlights from the most recent Fortune/Deloitte CEO survey.

article image
key takeaways
1.

Technology continues to be a top priority for CEOs as they adapt to an ever-changing environment while managing a variety of implementation challenges.

2.

More than half of CEOs anticipate a recession, yet expectations for company growth hold steady.

3.

Geopolitics unseats talent as top CEO challenge for the first time in two years.

Forging new ground despite obstacles

CEOs continue to explore and invest in emerging technologies while staying the course with business strategy as they manage implementation challenges from workforce skills to applicable use cases and technology maturity.

Still early in its adoption, Generative AI adds another ripple in the wave of disruption. CEOs once again demonstrate their ability to be ambidextrous – simultaneously focusing on the present and the future.

While CEOs are split around their predictions for a recession, the majority are confident they can sustain some level of growth for their organization. Despite a variety of increasingly complex challenges, from geopolitical uncertainty to economic volatility, CEOs are focused on capturing the early opportunities of emerging technologies while maintaining a cautious approach and managing risk.

Jason Girzadas, CEO, Deloitte US

Half of CEOs anticipate a recession, but still expect growth

Despite increasing concerns around geopolitical conditions and a recession, the majority of CEOs still expect some degree of growth for their organization over the next year – highlighting the continued resilience and cautious optimism CEOs have demonstrated for the past few years.

When considering economic indicators, CEOs predict only mild fluctuations from current levels with inflation decreasing slightly and the Fed Funds interest rate, S&P 500, and unemployment rates increasing slightly.

Geopolitics as top CEO challenge

For the first time since June 2021, talent is no longer the biggest challenge CEOs face today with geopolitics, the economy, and uncertainty rising to the top of the list. This shift may reflect the confidence CEOs have in their companies’ ability to navigate labor challenges and inflation while sharing greater concern about navigating geopolitics and financial uncertainty.

At the same time, geopolitical instability and inflation top the list of external factors expected to disrupt business strategy in the next year.

 

You can explore the full Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey Summer 2023 here.