CEOs working to bolster capability in 2016: survey

Chief executives worldwide have made organizational capability their priority for 2016, according to CEO Challenge 2016, a global survey and report released Thursday by The Conference Board.

These leaders are improving internally to counteract a mass of external risks - economic, demographic, geopolitical, and more - in the year ahead and beyond.

On a foundation of engagement, inclusion, and continual improvement, they are seeking to build high-performing cultures that can support growth and spur innovation amid widespread uncertainty.

"Deep-seated anxieties about talent and human capital pervade this year's survey results," said Rebecca Ray, co-author of the report and executive vice president of Knowledge Organization at The Conference Board.

"From their hot-button issues for 2016 to their long-term strategies in multiple business areas, CEOs are wide awake to the risks posed by rapidly changing skill requirements, on one hand, and a historic slowdown in working-age population growth on the other," she said.

Bart van Ark, another report co-author and chief economist at The Conference Board, said: "We are in a slow-growth world with significant downside risks for the year ahead." At the same time, he added, technology continues to accelerate at an incredible pace, promising great rewards to organizations capable of seizing the initiative. To do so, they need to be aligned, agile, and innovative like never before - and our survey finds CEOs focused urgently toward that end."

The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2016 is the latest in a survey series first conducted in 1999. Between September and early November, 605 CEOs, presidents, and chairmen from across the globe responded to researchers' questions on the most pressing challenges facing their organizations. Enditem