Introduction
The role of CEO is complex, encompassing responsibilities such as setting strategic direction, driving growth, and ensuring both long-term sustainability and shareholder value. Today’s CEOs face mounting economic pressures, shifting workforce expectations, technological disruptions, and heightened stakeholder scrutiny. At the same time, they must guide their organizations through structural and cultural changes to maintain agility and resilience.
In this context, SHRM conducted research to understand how CEOs are navigating and leading through these challenges. The study focused on three key objectives:
- Identifying CEOs’ top priorities for the year ahead.
- Exploring the challenges they face in meeting organizational goals.
- Examining their perspectives on emerging workplace trends.
To address these objectives, SHRM Thought Leadership surveyed 116 CEOs from various industries and organizations of different sizes. The findings offer key insights into the priorities that CEOs are setting for the coming year and shed light on the challenges and trends shaping leadership and business strategy in today’s rapidly changing environment.
OUR PERSPECTIVES
Adopting AI, Driving Revenue Growth, and Attracting Top Talent Are CEOs’ Top Priorities
CEOs’ top priorities for the year ahead reflect the multifaceted demands of their role, spanning financial, technological, and people-focused objectives. Leaders are balancing the need to innovate through technology, drive revenue growth, and attract top talent — demonstrating how financial performance, workforce strategy, and technology adoption must come together to achieve both short-term and long-term organizational success.
Adopting AI is the leading CEO priority for the coming year
CEOs were asked to select their top three priorities for the next 12 months, revealing a balance across technology, financial, and people-focused objectives. Adopting artificial intelligence was the most frequently selected priority (40%), followed by revenue growth (31%) and attracting top talent (27%). Advancing digital transformation (26%) also ranked highly, underscoring that CEOs are leveraging technology not only to innovate but also to modernize processes and strengthen organizational capabilities.
Together, these priorities reflect how CEOs are integrating multiple dimensions of strategy. Technology initiatives such as AI and digital transformation are seen as key drivers of efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage. At the same time, focusing on revenue growth and talent acquisition ensures the organization has the financial resources and workforce capability to execute strategy effectively. This combination demonstrates that CEOs are pursuing a holistic approach — aligning technology, business performance, and human capital to achieve both immediate results and long-term resilience in an increasingly complex business environment.
Technology Emerges as the Primary Challenge for CEOs
CEOs today face a wide array of challenges ranging from broad macroeconomic pressures to organization-specific issues. Notably, the challenges they reported align closely with their top priorities for the year ahead, underscoring how external forces and internal strategy are increasingly intertwined.
Technological advancements lead macroeconomic challenges
More than half of CEOs (56%) identified technological advancements as a macroeconomic challenge. This surpassed concerns related to inflation or rising costs of goods and services (38%), economic uncertainty (36%), and increased market competition (36%), suggesting that leaders view the accelerating pace of technological change as a more pressing external force than traditional economic headwinds.
Adapting to technological advancements leads organizational challenges
More than half of CEOs (54%) identified adapting to technological advancements — such as the integration of AI — as the top challenge their organization faces today. This closely aligns with their leading strategic priority of adopting AI, suggesting that while CEOs recognize the transformative potential of technology, they also acknowledge the complexity of adapting to technological advancements. The second most frequently cited challenge was pressure to achieve financial goals (38%), mirroring the priority of driving revenue growth. Together, these findings indicate that CEOs are navigating a dual imperative: leveraging technology to innovate and transform their organizations while maintaining strong financial performance in a rapidly changing environment.
Trends Shaping the Year Ahead
CEOs are reshaping how organizations pursue growth, resilience, and innovation amid rapid technological and workforce transformation. By adopting AI-driven business models, advancing digital transformation, and reimagining talent strategies, today’s CEOs are steering their organizations toward more agile, data-driven, and future-focused operations. This research captures their outlook on the trends gaining momentum now and those poised to define the year ahead.
AI is expected to reshape work, talent, and value creation while introducing new risks
Nearly 9 in 10 CEOs (89%) said they expect AI to redefine how their organizations create and capture value, while most also anticipate it will reshape the workforce by creating new roles and phasing out repetitive work (88%), transforming organizational structures (83%), and driving widespread workforce upskilling and reskilling efforts (87%). These findings suggest that CEOs see AI not only as a technological investment, but also as a fundamental shift in how work is designed, talent is developed, and value is delivered. The emphasis on upskilling and reskilling underscores the belief that future competitiveness will depend on a workforce capable of evolving alongside technology. In this view, integrating AI is no longer optional — it is a strategic imperative for growth, agility, and long-term relevance.
However, this executive optimism is balanced by a pragmatic view of the risks. CEOs are highly attuned to the challenges accompanying AI integration, with a significant 88% anticipating that AI-enabled attacks will intensify cybersecurity threats. This concern is matched by a greater focus on responsible oversight as leaders recognize the need for increased investment in AI governance (82%); expansion of CEO oversight into AI, ethics, and data governance (79%); and growing ethical concerns around AI (76%). These findings underscore that while AI presents a powerful opportunity for growth, it also demands robust leadership to navigate the complex security, ethical, and operational challenges that will define the next phase of business.
Workforce strategies are expected to evolve to meet demands for agility and efficiency
Over the next 12 months, CEOs anticipate several workforce and operational trends will become more prevalent. The most widely expected shifts include a growing emphasis on digital collaboration tools and platforms (87%), highlighting the need to support the human element of work. As AI and automation reshape workflows, these tools help maintain connection, teamwork, and engagement, ensuring employees remain empowered and aligned with organizational goals.
Many CEOs also expect rising labor and total workforce costs (81%), which reflect the financial pressures driving many organizational decisions. In response, structural changes such as workforce reductions or layoffs (75%) and organizational redesigns or restructuring (74%) are also expected to become more common to improve efficiency and sustain performance.
At the same time, there is an expectation that there will be a growing emphasis on organizational agility in workforce management (78%) and increased use of independent contractors, gig workers, and freelancers (72%). This reflects a clear demand for more adaptable workforce strategies.
CEOs also anticipate increased collaboration between themselves, CHROs, and other C-suite leaders to manage workforce risk (76%). Additionally, they expect more frequent geopolitical disruptions that impact workforce strategy (73%). These trends underscore the critical need for executive alignment to navigate complex and evolving challenges effectively.
What’s Next for CEOs?
CEOs are navigating a rapidly changing business landscape in which technology, workforce expectations, and operational pressures intersect. Their decisions will shape how organizations drive growth, maintain agility, and build resilient, high-performing workforces. Based on SHRM research, key areas of focus for the year ahead include:
Balancing technology, growth, and talent as strategic priorities
CEOs will need to integrate technology, business performance, and workforce strategy to maintain competitiveness. Adopting AI (cited by 40%), driving revenue growth (31%), and attracting top talent (27%) remain the top priorities, signaling that CEOs will focus on aligning digital transformation, revenue objectives, and talent strategies to fuel innovation and long-term success.
Leading with strategic oversight and risk management
As AI, digital tools, and workforce changes accelerate, CEOs will need to expand their oversight to encompass ethics, governance, and risk management. More than 4 in 5 (82%) CEOs foresee a growing need for investment in AI governance, and 79% anticipate greater CEO engagement in AI, ethics, and data oversight. CEOs will lead not only through executing strategy but also by shaping responsible, resilient organizations capable of navigating complex risks.
Strengthening organizational agility and workforce readiness
CEOs will increasingly prioritize building adaptable organizations capable of responding to economic, operational, and workforce pressures. Over the next year, leaders expect an increased focus on digital collaboration tools (87%), workforce agility (78%), and organizational redesigns to improve efficiency and agility (74%). Proactively rethinking structures, workforce models, and talent deployment will be essential to sustain performance and navigate uncertainty.
CONCLUSION
The current landscape demands visionary leadership capable of navigating an intricate interplay of technological advancement, economic pressures, and evolving workforce dynamics. As SHRM's research underscores, CEOs are strategically prioritizing AI adoption, revenue growth, and talent acquisition while confronting the inherent challenges of these transformative shifts. The trends shaping the year ahead reveal a critical need for organizations to embrace agility, foster strategic C-suite collaboration, and proactively manage both the opportunities and risks presented by innovation. By leveraging these insights, leaders can forge resilient, future-focused strategies that drive sustainable growth and redefine organizational success in an increasingly complex global environment.
