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Finding America's most spineless
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CEOs are becoming less powerful, says work expert Adam Grant
CEOs are influential and highly paid, but long hours, high stress, and uncertainty about the future are leading to “CEO burnout” and disinterest in leadership roles among young workers.
CEO is one of the most influential and highly-compensated jobs in the world, but according to organizational psychologist Adam Grant, the overwhelming feeling he senses from business leaders right now is one of “powerlessness.” With so many uncertainties and risks right now—climate change, crumbling democracy, powerful new advances in AI—CEOs are putting their heads down to focus on short-term gains instead of preparing for the long-term futures of their organizations.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer asks Grant, who studies leadership and culture in the business world, what he makes of this shift, and whether CEO incentives need to change. Grant sees a growing disinterest among young workers in taking on leadership roles, pointing to long hours, short tenures, and a growing sense that it’s unclear how much good they can do, if any, from the executive c-suite. All this contributes to what Grant calls “CEO burnout,” and he said he hopes to see more companies with co-CEOs, which is better for business and workers.
“I think the job [of CEO] is just so big and complex that it’s hard for one person to have all the skills you need,” Grant explains.
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The Future of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
Kevin Sneader, global managing partner for McKinsey & Company, provides perspective on how corporate business leaders should reassess their approach to ESG criteria.
What's going to happen to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)?
The answer in one way is quite simple, "S" is going to become a whole lot more important. Social. Many CEOs rushed to sign declarations of purpose at the end of last year. We're going to find out now what those mean. As I chatted with CEOs across the globe, one of things that struck in my mind from one of them was that now we have to deliver. What will it take to deliver on purpose? First thing is to be clear on what that purpose is. Many businesses have been working on that.
Most importantly, what are we going to do that's different?
Some simple words of advice come to mind. The first is make sure that our people will now see this in metrics, and in responsibility and accountability. This matters more than anything. Secondly, be clear on how you as a leader are going to hold people to account on those metrics. Thirdly, walk the talk. Make sure your own house is in order. Do everything you can to ensure that before you talk about what the world should do, you're clearer on what you should do