“It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.” – Pope John XXIII
Managers are concerned with the performance of their teams, CEOs on the other hand, have a lot more to worry about. Typically, we think of senior leadership as primarily concerned with the business, revenue and even the reputation of the organization. However, that’s not always the case. Executives are also worried about how their team functions as a whole and how individual growth and understanding plays into the bigger picture. There are the common leadership pains that keep your CEO up at night besides changes in the stock market.
Response to technological growth
The world of work is changing, and not just in the way we work. The way we work has been drastically altered the developments in technology. The rapid change in
technology is a challenge for 58% of CEOs because it highlights a shortage of key skills that could hinder growth. They set their hiring managers on a mission to hire the candidates who have the ability to learn and grow into the changing workplace.
“Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin
Competition in the battle for talent
The battle for these highly qualified candidates is increasingly competitive. So to stay competitive in the marketplace, CEOs have to understand that the defense for this front is talent that outperforms that of their competitors. The
skills gap is a serious concern for 63% of CEOs, and in response, about half of these leaders planning to hire more people in the next 12 months.
Tweet This: How can CEOs stay competitive in the marketplace?
“We’ve more or less solved the skills gap recruiting and training and developing and engaging the right kind of people. It requires attention. It requires investment, all those types of things. There’s a solution to the skills gap.” Jeff Owens
Partnering with industry leaders
Strategic partnerships help organizations grow and collaborate. In fact,
56% of CEOs label these relationships as vital to their business. These partnerships can help CEOs build momentum in economic and talent growth, but they have to be thoughtfully planned and maintained.
“Latching on to a bigger,
well-known brand through a mutually beneficial partnership is a way to quickly build your own brand and credibility.” – Matt Ehrlichman
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Diversity in tough situations
It’s a recent ongoing initiative for CEOs, especially in male-dominated fields. Companies like Google have made progress in their
gender diversity efforts with women making up 30% of the company’s overall workforce. However, these women only hold 17% of the company’s tech jobs. With the increasing social pressure to expand diversity internally, diversity remains a top concern for many CEOs.
“Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to live without.” William Sloane Coffin Jr.
Tweet This: Diversity remains a top concern for many CEOs, here’s why:
Your CEOs worry about things outside strictly economic gain, as the stereotype would suggest. The success of the teams within the organization are the foundation of their company, so therefore they are the collateral many senior leadership struggle with. Your senior leadership wants to create better teams to develop the building blocks of a better company. They are worried about growth, competition, partnerships and diversity. Keeping the team healthy and afloat incites insomnia, and because of these concerns, CEOs stay awake at night pondering solutions and key human capital management solutions.
