Executives remain cautiously optimistic for 2022. Per a Fortune/Deloitte survey, CEOs have expressed cautious optimism that their organizations have adjusted and adapted to the challenges faced in 2021, including the lingering pandemic. Highlights, per ZDNet:
- About two-thirds of CEOs expect their company’s growth to be either “very strong” or “strong” in 2022.
- 36% of CEOs have expressed greater concerns over inflation and the potential for unstable financial markets as reasons that could disrupt their business strategy for this year.
- 78% of CEOs attribute increased business costs and margin impacts to supply chain disruptions in 2021, while 45% said the supply chain had caused revenue losses and customer service issues.
- Slightly less than half of the CEOs surveyed see the lack of hiring talented staff as the biggest challenge they face.
- 60% expect pandemic business effects to diminish this year: 20% say this summer, 40% say by the end of the year. Yet nearly one-third don’t see the end in sight, at least not for the foreseeable future.
Why do we care?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t observe that executives were notably out of sync with their employees over several factors in stories earlier in the week, so I’m pretty skeptical of their perception of hiring problems. I believe the problem is worse than they think.
Cautious optimism is a funny phrase. It’s trying to be both positive and negative at the same time. That’s my takeaway here – it can be both simultaneously.
