From Chief Executive Officer to Chief EVERYTHING Officer

Transformation is at the top of the business agenda, and in many cases, business leaders are focused on driving reinvention for the future. That includes major portfolio changes, better leveraging AI responsibly, or making significant talent and workforce investments. Many are pulling several of these levers while also driving transformation within their organizations as leaders. Yes, even the role of the CEO is undergoing transformation. With a broader scope, new skill requirements and greater expectations, today’s CEO role doesn’t have swimlanes. CEOs have to assume a role that mirrors a “Chief Everything Officer,” focusing on areas of the business such as HR or tax as potential growth drivers.?

Based on my discussions with CEOs, here are some ways leaders are thinking about this shift today.

CEOs should lead beyond the numbers

CEOs have traditionally been measured by their ability to produce strong financials and organizational growth. Today’s market comes with a more complicated scorecard. The drivers of success go beyond the balance sheet and include trust and talent. For this reason, CEOs are putting people and talent strategies – including areas such as workforce, culture and benefits – at the top of their agenda. While this idea is growing more common among leaders, it really is a significant shift. The idea that a CEO would enter into workforce conversations—let alone shape strategies around topics such as “return to office” or “employee experience”—would have been shocking a decade ago. But not today.?

These conversations are critically important to attracting, retaining and developing talent. Beyond retaining employees, understanding employee sentiment, that they are happy and continuously learning new skills is a crucial component of an effective talent strategy. While it may have been accelerated by the pandemic, the interconnectedness between people and growth is not a trend. It is here to stay. Investments in talent and trust are increasingly being rewarded by markets. Leaders are quickly learning that prioritizing growth and prioritizing people is more or less the same thing.?

Today, businesses are navigating more stakeholders than ever before and with ever increasing demands. In this multistakeholder world, businesses often find that there are competing demands that need to be addressed across stakeholder groups. A PwC survey found that 73% of business leaders cite the CEO as either responsible for or accountable for trust. That makes it even more important for CEOs to play an active role in building and maintaining trust with stakeholders.??

It’s impossible to please everyone at all times, but every action taken to address stakeholder concerns needs to be open and transparent. CEOs are now taking a front and center role in helping to address stakeholder demands. The actions they take can go a long way in building and maintaining a corporate culture and reputation grounded in trust.?

Leaders should focus on the big picture

CEOs have always had to look at the future while mitigating near-term risks and obstacles. But, in a faster paced, digital environment, CEOs have to stay hyper vigilant on both fronts. More than ever before, business leaders have to drive reinvention for a not-so-far away future. Our firm recently surveyed more than 4,000 CEOs, and nearly 40% of chief executives think their organizations will not be viable in a decade—that number jumps to 59% beyond the next 10 years. Whether a CEO is from manufacturing, technology or healthcare, the message is the same: businesses have to evolve—not just keep up, but reimagine themselves for the next decade. If not, they may risk losing it all.?

An increasingly important part in driving reinvention is confirming tech responsibility—that means pushing forward and instilling integrity across the organization, with employees, customers, and other stakeholders. New technologies have the ability to reshape how we do business and live our lives for the better. But as the technology landscape is rapidly changing, there comes the need to make sure the potential good is maximized while minimizing any adverse concerns or unintended consequences. As new technologies emerge, CEOs should now play a vigilant role in the company-wide adoption of new tech.?

Overall, CEOs are critical in the evolution process. They have to go beyond traditional executive decisions, and dig into areas of the business they might not have considered. CEOs also have to keep trust as their North Star. That means communicating and sending signals to the market that their business is helping to solve big problems and drive outcomes that matter to the future of our markets, economy and society.

Without losing focus on today

This group of leaders place a heavy emphasis on how important it is to keep the balance between future and present. When leaders think of driving outcomes, they often think of the big bets—automation, new product launches, acquiring new capabilities or simplifying the portfolio. But even the success of those big strategic plays is dependent on the challenges (and opportunities!) right in front of us. Take tax for example. It can be a powerful lever in areas like unlocking capital and making critical investments. Tax in this case is a potential driver of transformation and reinvention. CEOs should want to confirm their teams share their commitment of getting into the details as a means to future fitness of the organization. At a time when big changes and transformations can present opportunity,? it's the mistakes in the details that make or break a product launch, a revamped people experience or a new technology roll out.?

CEOs have a big role—and it's only getting bigger. For the Chief Everything Officer, honing in on various details that weren’t considered a focal point of the job only four or so years ago have become critically important today. Equally important are the teams supporting the chief executive, and enabling a dual-imperative mindset and people-centric culture that is embraced by all. It's the strength of these teams and the outcomes they produce that will help drive the growth needed to compete today.