CEOs Leading the Future

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CEOs Leading the Future

All successful CEOs apply strategic foresight in everything they do - this is simply a must given the ever-changing environment around us.

However, here is one thing I've noticed that distinguishes the 'successful' CEOs from the truly extraordinary ones:

Successful CEOs constantly ask themselves: ‘How do I need to evolve my company in order to succeed in the future?’         

Extraordinary CEOs ask themselves instead: ‘How do I need to evolve as the CEO in order to lead this company into a successful future?’         

In my daily work coaching high-performing CEOs, this question is continuously top of mind for me.

After all, the weight of the decisions a CEO makes accounts for almost 50% of a company’s success.        

While there was solid consensus around what a strong CEO profile looks like until recently, based on the studies and research done in the previous years, these past findings do not fully apply to the future.

Stakeholder expectations, workforce structure, society values, market dynamics, and pretty much every other material business factor has changed drastically in the most recent times.

Therefore, perhaps the way we approach CEO assessment also needs a rethink. Instead of striving to reach a new consensus on what that “magic formula” for a successful CEO profile looks like, maybe we should simply embrace the fact that the perfect profile will most likely change continuously and become more of a moving target rather than a final destination. With a decreasing CEO tenure and an increasing willingness to embrace continuous learning and coaching, it seems time to embrace a more agile approach to CEO development and succession.

One thing is clear:

the CEO of tomorrow is very different from the CEO of the past        

Below are some of the most important traits of CEOs masterfully leading not only the past and the present, but also the future of their organisations and missions.

Connecting purpose with productivity

The CEOs of the future will be masters at doing well while doing good         

A recent Harvard Corporate Governance article reinforced the fact that investors and other key stakeholders strongly believe the job of the CEO goes beyond turning a profit. Moving forward, CEOs must not only demonstrate strong corporate purpose and value, but also take on complex societal issues. CEOs will be stewards of a triple, not a single, bottom line - they’ll need to focus on people, planet, and profit with an equal sense of urgency and importance.

This part of the CEO's mandate is already HUGE and is growing in importance as you are reading this. So big that we decided that 'Leading Beyond Profit' will be the focus of the CEO Panel we hosted this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Read more about it in this Forbes article from my business partner Nicole here.

Seizing disruption

As change, disruption and transformation become our ongoing everyday reality, the future belongs to the CEOs who are not just good at managing disruption, but are also proactively embracing disruption as the new rule of the game. This effectively means moving from the reactive mode of the past to

enthusiastically seeking and seizing opportunities for disruption as a way to continuously evolve and grow the organisation         

This approach drastically increases the chances of gaining a competitive advantage compared to your peers.

Embracing ecosystem leadership

Due to an increasing stakeholder management complexity

CEOs of the future are leaders of their ecosystems and not only their companies        

Looking at their company in isolation is definitely an outdated approach that no longer works, and most CEOs have by now accepted the fact their organisation is highly interconnected and makes an impact on the world as a whole. In the future, these lines will continue to get even more blurred as CEOs are called to come up with visions that make this world a better place and benefit all their constituents. The extraordinary CEOs fully embrace their responsibility within their broader ecosystem and proactively lead efforts outside of their organisations.

Showing real humanity

While in the past we have talked about CEOs needing to balance their business acumen with emotional intelligence, this approach will not suffice in the future. The expectations for the CEOs of today and tomorrow have shifted, both internally and externally, and stakeholders are increasingly looking for leaders who are not just emotionally intelligent, but who are truly authentic and human on top of that.

Authentic CEO positioning

In order for future CEOs to succeed in many of the points named above, being more visible than ever is a must.

Both internal as well as external positioning of the CEOs becomes critical and needs to be managed in a strategic yet human and authentic way        

In order to gain and sustain trust, standard corporate communication channeled through the CEO is simply not good enough anymore: both employees and external stakeholders want to know more about who the CEO really is, what drives them personally, what societal issues they are personally passionate about, and what they are doing - individually and collectively - to make an impact.

Lastly - as always, the success of the CEO continues to be largely determined by the effectiveness of their leadership team. As CEOs are being asked to step into not only bigger shoes, but often different shoes every day, they need the rest of their executive team to do the same.

This is why developing their leadership teams is a nr. 1 the priority list of extraordinary CEOs. If you missed my previous article on this topic, check it out here Nr. 1 Priority for Top CEOs.

About the Author

Marina is an award winning Board advisor and CEO coach. She is currently a Co-CEO of Heimann Cvetkovic & Partners, boutique executive advisory firm.

Marina’s corporate background includes senior leadership roles such as Head of Finance, Head Executive Office, VP Strategy, Chief of Staff to the CEO in management consulting, financial services, executive search industry across Europe and US. In her last corporate role, she was the Vice President of Strategy and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Swiss Re, largest reinsurance company worldwide.

?Marina is a member of the prestigious MG100 community alongside Dr. Jim Kim, Alan Mulally and other highly accomplished leaders and coaches. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, Fast Company Executive Board and certified coach-supervisor in the EQ Coaching Certification program founded by Prof. Daniel Goleman, pioneer of emotional intelligence. Her work has been quoted and featured by UBS, Amex, Insurance Thought Leadership, ICF, Forbes and others. She is a TEDx speaker and founder, as well as a sought-after keynote speaker on leadership and boardroom related topics (WEF, The Conference Board Executive Conference in NYC, World Forum Disrupt, Global Insurtech Leaders Summit in NYC and others). She currently serves on the board of maruu in Zurich, Charterpath in London and Boarstrong in NYC.

Marina holds an MSc in Finance and is a CFA Charterholder. She completed postgraduate studies in Board Governance at Wharton, Cybersecurity at Harvard and Digital Transformation at Berkley. She holds a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) credential from the International Coaching Federation. She graduated the Institute of Excellence in Professional Coaching program in NYC and is also a certified coach-supervisor.

What's Next? Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll go deeper into the leadership principles of remarkable CEOs. Feel free to share your thoughts, experiences, or topics you'd like us to cover in future newsletters!

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Keep thriving,

Marina