Report: Sustainability is a top 10 priority for CEOs this year

A recent study of CEOs and senior executives by Gartner, Inc. exposed substantial shifts in their thinking relating to people today, purpose, price ranges and efficiency in 2022, specially on issues of sustainability, workforce difficulties and inflation.

Among the critical results, synthetic intelligence (AI) is now reported as the most impactful new technological innovation amongst CEOs for the 3rd year in a row. Conversely, 63% of CEOs see the metaverse as either not applicable or extremely not likely to be a vital technological innovation for their enterprise.

In addition, for the initially time in the historical past of the survey, CEOs positioned environmental sustainability in their best 10 strategic company priorities, coming in at 8th place. Practically a few-quarters of CEOs agreed that expanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) endeavours attracts traders toward their businesses. Sustainability also appears as a aggressive differentiator for CEOs in 2022 and 2023, on the similar stage as model belief among respondents.

Workforce problems, such as talent retention, moved up in precedence for CEOs for the next calendar year in a row, only somewhat driving technologies-linked troubles these kinds of as digitalization and cybersecurity, and substantially in advance of monetary problems this kind of as profitability and hard cash stream.

Relating to inflation, 62% of CEOs see general rate inflation as a persistent or prolonged-expression problem. Their top response to inflation is to elevate selling prices (51% of respondents), alternatively than responding with productivity and performance (22% of respondents).

All round, CEO perspectives shifted considerably in 2022, impacted by the ongoing effects of the pandemic and more a short while ago the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, CEOs’ electronic business ambition carries on to rise, unabated by the pandemic and relevant crises.

The once-a-year Gartner 2022 CEO and Senior Enterprise Govt Study was performed amongst July 2021 through December 2021 among in excess of 400 CEOs and other senior business enterprise executives in North America, EMEA and APAC throughout various industries, earnings and enterprise sizes.

Browse the entire report by Gartner.