Your team isn’t as strong as you think

In a world where generative AI separates the winners from the losers, people are a CEO’s biggest technology problem. No matter how good a team is today, it isn’t good enough to compete tomorrow.

CEOs understand that their people will make all the difference. Already, half are hiring for generative AI-related roles that didn’t exist last year. Yet, most say their organizations are straining under the pressure. More than half of CEOs say they’re already struggling to fill key technology roles—and it’s unlikely this task will get easier any time soon. Overall, CEOs say 35% of their workforce will require retraining and reskilling over the next three years—up from just 6% in 2021.

The customer isn’t always right

Customers don’t know what they’ll want tomorrow. It’s not that they’re indecisive—it’s that the next big thing could change everything. This may be why CEOs say product and service innovation is their top priority for the next three years—up from sixth place in 2023.

Generative AI can help companies tap into vast stores of customer data, from in-depth market research to individual device metrics, to come up with paradigm-busting product ideas. It can even validate far-out concepts against real-world business criteria, letting employees focus on the creative work required to bring the best ideas to life. With these game-changing capabilities on the table, 86% of global digital product leaders say generative AI is now a critical part of digital product design and development.

Sentimentality is a weakness when expertise is in short supply

CEOs need to trust the partners they bring to the table—and that trust can take years to build. But valuing connections over capabilities could be kryptonite for CEOs as they jockey for a competitive edge with generative AI.

Looking to the future, CEOs know they need to be selective about which partners they prioritize. Nearly two-thirds say their organization’s strategy is to concentrate on fewer high-quality partners. This is perhaps to keep key vendors close at hand, as 60% of CEOs expect critical expertise and capabilities to be increasingly concentrated in a small cluster of organizations.

Sparring partners make the best leaders

The C-suite shouldn’t always agree. Each officer comes to the table with their own perspective and area of expertise. No individual view offers objective truth. Rather, it’s the full picture they paint together that shows CEOs which direction the organization should take.

Just as sparring strengthens fighting skills, emphatic discussion leads to better decisions, especially in times of uncertainty. But CEOs need to set clear ground rules to keep these conversations constructive. If leaders believe no holds are barred, debates can devolve into all-out brawls. These melees tend to be counter-productive, with nearly half of CEOs saying competition among their C-suite execs impedes collaboration from time to time.

People hate progress

Generative AI promises to bring opportunities that were once pure fantasy into the realm of possibility. But moving beyond productivity gains to business model innovation will require buy-in at all levels of the organization—and many employees see generative AI as something that’s happening TO them, not a tool that works FOR them.

CEOs see the people problem this is creating. Nearly two-thirds (64%) say their organization must take advantage of technologies that are changing faster than employees can adapt—and 61% say they’re pushing their organization to adopt generative AI more quickly than some people are comfortable with.

Tech short-cuts are a dead end

As the tectonic plates of enterprise IT shift, CEOs must decide where their tech is structurally sound, where they need to build scaffolding—and where they should tear it down to the foundation.

With new applications coming into view every day, CEOs have many paths to choose from—and no guarantees about which will deliver the most value. Yet, making the right technology investments is one of the key factors that set top-performing CEOs apart. 90% of these leaders say their organization’s digital infrastructure enables new investments to efficiently scale and deliver value, compared to just 71% of all CEOs.

There are many paths to success, but CEOs need to prioritize tech improvements that will support long-term business strategies. This is the work no one wants to do—but neglecting this task for exciting new use cases will constrain future growth.