What CEOs Want: The 2025 Guide to the Great Unknown
The Research Kickoff Edition
You’ve already seen the signs:
- A record wave of CEO resignations in 2024 as leaders walk away from roles that no longer come with a playbook.
- CEOs calling other CEOs for real-world answers - cutting past consultants and boards/
- The widespread rejection of default platforms and compliance-heavy vendors who deliver cost, not clarity
- Thought leaders like Bill George naming what it is—strategic uncertainty at its peak
CEOs are done pretending they have the answers. They’re navigating chaos - not strategy decks. The frameworks are failing. Consultants are out. Big tech is being pushed back. And the only source of truth left? Other CEOs.
The Executive Summary and research partner Tollejo are launching a new research project to get to the heart of it. What CEOs know. What they don’t. What’s really working. And what needs to go.
We’re conducting 50 short, off-the-record CEO interviews across listed firms and global enterprises. We’ll anonymise the findings and turn them into a report for the CEO community, their suppliers, teams and governments they engage with.
Themes we’ll explore:
- What CEOs know - and what they don’t
- Honesty in the boardroom
- Moving on from consultants and compliance-heavy tech
- Where demand is really coming from
- Operational resilience in 2025
- What’s next - and how to prepare for it
If you would like to take part, we'll need about 30 minutes on a Zoom call. Email me if so.
Thank you
Dan
