The biggest worry on executives' minds around the world isn't recession, global competition, or labour relations. Rather, a report shows that what's keeping C-level executives up at night is their people strategies.
The Global Leadership Forecast 2018, produced from a collaboration between EY, Development Dimensions International (DDI), and The Conference Board, indicates that C-level executives are most concerned with developing "next gen" leaders -- with 64% of those surveyed indicating it as a challenge.
Attracting and retaining top talent ranked as the second top challenge, affecting 6 out of 10 participants.
This year’s study includes data from almost 26,000 leaders from nearly 2,500 organisations from around the world, across 26 different industries. The study also involved the participation of more than 2,500 human resources professionals.
"If you're deeply concerned about your organization's lack of leadership capability, you are in the clear majority," said Evan Sinar, chief scientist and vice president of DDI, and lead author of the study.
"The tremendous amount of data we collected in this study shows that as digital disruption continues to transform the workplace, we're facing a massive leadership shortage worldwide. The good news, however, is that the research also reveals a clear road map of how organizations can start changing their people strategies today to excel tomorrow,” he added.