During a crisis is the moment in time for boards to be actively engaged and be a support system for the CEO and leadership team. In an ideal situation, everyone might also be fully supportive of the promotion. The board was also excited, so we charged ahead. Not even CEOs are safe from the wrath of 2020. They understand its strategy and might have been intimately involved in developing it. They indicated the manufacturing industry feels the bulk of the uncertainty. survey of 740 CEOs of the Conference Board, over 100 CEOs who agreed that trade was their top concern, A New Reality: Crisis Management Topics Every Board Should Consider. They’ve established credibility and support. CEOs still consider the end of the longest expansion in U.S. history to be the biggest fear in 2020, according to the Conference Board's CEO Challenge survey. The upside of that is knowing team members’ styles and capabilities well. Over half of US CEOs plan to leverage new M&A in 2020 (vs. 35% CEOs globally). In 2020, CIOs will face three key challenges as the applications they manage change to meet evolving business, customer and employee needs: Enabling and balancing product and project management of applications to focus on delivering business outcomes while maintaining highly reliable core business operations. and directing a roster of associates – CEOs and leaders are encumbered by a lot of responsibilities Insiders who are named CEO have to devote significant effort to ensuring that their predecessors’ exits are as clear-cut and smooth as possible—especially if the outgoing leader expresses any ambivalence about the transition or is struggling to let go. Of course, CEOs will not be able to control some of the issues that create their deepest worries. Frank Longobardi, the former CEO of the New York–based accounting firm CohnReznick, agrees that consensus is rarely possible: “If I can make 80% happy with a given decision, then we’re all right.”. are in charge. Everyone comes from somewhere,” says David Verinder, who spent four years as Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s CFO and four as its COO before assuming the organization’s top job. I knew my decisions would be viewed through the lens of favoritism if I didn’t invest in building bridges.” To shift your mindset, try imagining that you’ve been hired from the outside and are coming into the company with fresh eyes. They’ve usually had years to learn all about the organization, examine its flaws, and make mental notes about what they would do differently if given the chance. Sally Percy Contributor. “I had to walk the journey with each one,” she notes. Economic decline landed in third place for other U.S. chief executives. CEOs agree that their top internal concern and priority for 2020 is attracting and retaining top talent. These leaders want to attack issues and plant a flag early in their tenure. (See “Internal Hires Need Just as Much Support as External Ones,” HBR.org.). 6 top internal priority for women. Through our research and our experience working with newly promoted CEOs, we have identified insiders’ five key challenges: operating in the shadow of their own past; making early decisions that surprise and disappoint supporters; overseeing former peers; pacing change; and managing the outgoing CEO. The success of internal CEO transitions cannot be taken for granted. MQ: The “Morality Quotient” will enter the battle for great talent. Stress is bound to plague CEOs as uncertainty over trade trickles down to all kinds of companies and industries. In nearly all cases CEOs who rose from within have to lead people who were formerly their equals (and on rare occasions, their superiors). ... puts the average age for CEOs at 58, chief HR … But looking back, the pace of change put tremendous stress on individuals and on our resources. Request a demo, pricing or more info to see how. Upon taking the helm of a large consultancy, one new chief executive had to deal with the fact that the previous co-CEOs were on the board of directors during his first six months. Each former peer deserves individual consideration, says Jumonville. If I had to do it again, I would have managed their expectations differently and introduced the strategic initiatives in a staged cadence.”, When the previous chief executive is leaving on good terms, as often happens when an insider replaces him or her, there are benefits: The transition can be carefully planned and executed with no discontinuity or confusion. Regardless of a company’s size, location or industry, CEOs and other C-suite executives across the globe will be looking for ways to keep top talent and recruit for the same. In their research and consulting work, the authors have identified insiders’ five key challenges: operating in the shadow of their own past; making early decisions that surprise and disappoint supporters; overseeing former peers; pacing change; and managing the outgoing CEO. Moving into 2020, CEOs will continue to have some external and internal concerns. However, it’s important to think about priorities and timing before acting on pent-up desires. Others are only mildly encouraged. Part of the process entails helping former peers and reports recognize that your relationships with them have changed and probably can’t be as cozy and collegial—or, on the flip side, as competitive or combative—as they were before. In reality, chief executives who have advanced from within face hurdles that are comparable in magnitude, albeit different in character, from those that externally hired leaders confront. Recession Rises on List of CEO Fears for 2020 Economic slowdown and trade uncertainty are top concerns in survey of global business leaders . “Really visualize yourself in the new role early on,” she advises, and “consciously see yourself moving out of the old one.”. As a new decade begins, healthcare executives will continue to grapple with challenges of the past as well as new issues that emerge. An International Perspective: Top Leadership Challenges For 2020. Not even CEOs are safe from the wrath of 2020. They should develop and implement a strategic communications plan that is equal parts internally and externally focused. CEOs appointed from within often have a long list of things they want to do now that they (finally!) HR and communications executives can help internally promoted CEOs “reintroduce” themselves to their organizations and cement their stature at the top of the hierarchy. Combating Cybersecurity Threats. To head off such assumptions, internally appointed CEOs need to adopt different attitudes toward key business drivers and managing risk than they had in their previous roles. 1 priority. Despite its accelerated timetable, the process drew input from all key constituencies on campus. The mix of capital available for deals should prevent M&A activity from plunging in a slower economy. Last November, at the annual investor day at Salesforce Inc., their CEO, Marc Benioff, stated that he’d spoken with over 100 CEOs who agreed that trade was their top concern. The videos in particular were “a big win” in helping people get to know him. This is especially true if the board and the executive team think the company is in a “sustaining success” situation or in need of only minor realignment—the most likely scenarios when an insider is elevated to the top job. First, CIOs face a complex challenge of leading their organizations not just to collect data, but to collect the right data. One CEO—who had the support of “every board and management team member” during his transition—told us the honeymoon didn’t last long. The top barriers to Europe’s CEO success by 2020 will be “no clear strategy” (first) and “lack of resources” (second), ahead of lack of ideas (third), and with competition a distant ninth. It can also be difficult for new CEOs to be objective about things they helped shape or championed in previous roles—for example, the strategic plan or major initiatives such as acquisitions. Regardless, the feedback should be delivered by someone experienced in distilling the key findings and “holding up the mirror” in ways that result in positive change rather than provoke defensive entrenchment of counterproductive behaviors. At the same time, nearly 40% of the responding CEOs reported that their organizations didn’t have clear plans to address the financial or reputational impact of a data breach or cyberattack. On an encouraging note, the U.S. stock market ended 2019 closing high. The result is a primer for leaders who step into the top job from within; the management teams, boards, and HR and communication departments that want to offer support; and even leaders lower down in the hierarchy who are dealing with succession issues. Once in office, promotees quickly realize that they will have to make decisions and trade-offs that displease some of the people who helped them advance.