1 1
CEOs want to spend more time reinventing their business
( QUESTION A ( ACTUAL ): During your work time , on average , what percentage of time do you spend on each of the following ? ( QUESTION B ( IDEAL ): Knowing what you know now , if you could start over with a blank calendar , how would you allocate your time as CEO ?
Driving current operating performance Evolving the business and its strategy to meet future demands
Actual
53 % 47 %
Ideal
43 % 57 %
NOTE : Re-based on the proportion of time spent across driving current operating performance and evolving the business and its strategy to meet future demands
SOURCE : PwC ’ s 26th Annual Global CEO Survey . ceosurvey . com . © 2023 PwC . All rights reserved .
Finding Balance
PwC ’ s study found a discrepancy between the way CEOs currently spend their time and the way they wish they could spend their time . While CEOs actually spend 47 percent of their time evolving their business and its strategy to meet future demands , they would ideally like to devote 57 percent of their time doing so . Instead , driving current operating performance takes up the majority of their time . Could it be that CEOs are shouldering too much of the day-to-day burden when they should be instilling more trust in their teams through delegation ? PwC ’ s data seems to illustrate this may be the case .
To reinvent their business while navigating near-term operating challenges , CEOs need the help of their people — C-suite leaders , middle managers and frontline employees alike . Engaged , empowered organizations move faster , innovate more readily and collaborate more
“ Companies and their customers can go far together through trust .” effectively to get things done . PwC ’ s data suggests a special kind of leadership will be required because deep change is possible only when individuals at all levels adapt and grow .
CEOs need to double down on setting a shared vision , empowering people to make decisions and being visible champions for change . Organizational empowerment and autonomy are important contributors to effective corporate resource reallocation , which is a critical lever for leaders seeking to drive major change in business direction .
Advanced analysis of data from last year ’ s CEO Survey also uncovered a statistically significant relationship between customer trust and financial performance , supporting the belief that companies and their customers can go far together through trust . Indeed , the data seems to advocate for more trust overall . If a culture of trust is fostered in your company from the top down , employees will be liberated to aim higher and feel appreciated for what they bring to the table . Ideally , this will fuel their desire to do good work and listen more closely to customer needs , producing more and more customer trust in your brand .
This balancing act is by no means simple , but it is greatly simplified when the leader is able to reach out to lean on someone nearby who shares their vision and reinforces their passion for success . While transferring current burdens in this fashion can be work in itself , the resulting relief frees up leaders to focus more acutely on charting a course through an increasingly uncertain future . n
APRIL 2023 n PULSE 49