Business disruptions leading CEOs to ‘feel their jobs are in jeopardy,’ AlixPartners CEO explains
AlixPartners CEO Simon Freakley speaks with Yahoo Finance Live about the results of a new survey showing CEOs’ anxiety about supply chain woes, labor crunches, automation, and a host of other business disruptions.
Video Transcript
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JULIE HYMAN: Well, apparently, CEOs are worried about their jobs. And they're worried about their jobs because of disruption in their industries. That's according to a new survey out from AlixPartners, 76% of them worried about losing their jobs due to disruption. Let's talk to the AlixPartners CEO now, that's Simon Freakley.
Simon, it's always good to see you. Were you surprised--
SIMON FREAKLEY: Thank you, Julie.
JULIE HYMAN: --by this finding? I mean, this seems like a pretty high number of these guys or maybe that's just what keeps them motivated, I don't know?
SIMON FREAKLEY: Well, Julie, you're so right. While we've studied disruption for years, we've been formally studying it for three years, the third year, this year where we published these statistics. But the 72%, almost 3/4 of CEOs feel that their jobs are in jeopardy, a massive 20 point jump since last year, is really significant. And interestingly, Julie, of all those 3,000 CEOs that we interviewed around the world for this study, 94% of them felt that their business models would have to fundamentally change in the next three years for them to remain relevant in their markets, and 57% of them felt they weren't making swift enough progress. So some real insights in this year's study.
BRIAN SOZZI: Simon, one of those insights really surprised me, noting that 3% of executives say COVID is their number one priority. Why is that so low?
SIMON FREAKLEY: Brian, good to see you again. So interesting, Brian, when we asked people what was keeping them awake at night, COVID didn't even make the top 10, in fact, it came in at number 13. In the top 10 were issues like the impact of artificial intelligence in their sectors, governance issues coming from new regulation, environmental issues, how they were responsible but still profitable, all of these concerns are in the top 10 but COVID number 13, you're so right.
JULIE HYMAN: And I'm curious, were there certain types of industries or companies, did it vary much by industry in terms of what people were concerned about?
SIMON FREAKLEY: Interestingly not. Our survey covered a whole range of industries, global industries. So all of the main Continents but interestingly enough, the things that were in the top 10 were very, very similar and weren't specific to geography or market. And so I think the learning from this has been that COVID, whilst an enormous disruption in our times, is just another disruption. There are many, many disruptions hitting businesses being managed by executive teams. This is just another one.
And interestingly, of course, as we come into 2022 on the back of Omicron, you know, the 15th letter in a 24 Greek alphabet, you know, measuring the new variants. This is just the latest disruption, but CEOs have got very good I think, adept at managing these multiple disruptions as they roll in. But interestingly enough, the pace of these disruptions, as well as the severity of these disruptions is increasing all the time. And we think that's what's putting extra pressure on the CEOs.
BRIAN SOZZI: Simon, you're a CEO yourself, what's your biggest concern for next year?
SIMON FREAKLEY: Well, I know we've all got multiple concerns. Clearly, you know, there are labor concerns, though frankly, I would say, Brian, we don't have a labor shortage, we have a skills shortage. Supply chain for those companies, particularly in manufacturing, is a big issue. You know, with globalization over the last 20 years, people worried about just-in-time production, now they have to worry about just-in-case as well as just-in-time. And so have to have regional and local supply chain options, not just global.
And then, of course, digital, how we have the digital tools enabling us to make sense of the data that we have. Many people are collecting their data but don't have the digital tools to understand it. So we're data-rich but insight-poor. But one thing is for sure, and it comes out so loudly from our study, is tomorrow's digital is not yesterday's IT.
JULIE HYMAN: So Simon, what your job now is, is to take all of this and give these folks advice, right? That's what.
SIMON FREAKLEY: Right.
JULIE HYMAN: --you guys do at AlixPartners.
SIMON FREAKLEY: Yes.
JULIE HYMAN: So what's the biggest response that you are having to this and how are you using that data? And to create insight for some of these CEOs, what advice are you giving them?
SIMON FREAKLEY: Well, what this data provides, Julie, in a very rich way, is the fact that there aren't perfect solutions. And indeed, big decisions have to be made on the back of imperfect information, because things are happening so quickly. So the main learning here, which I think is true in so many cases to CEOs around the world, is remaining agile, doing it nearly right, but doing it now. Making sure there is a viable strategy that's executed with pace and vigor, but that one doesn't become a hostage of that strategy when circumstances change.
Of course, many CEOs similar age to me were not born as digital natives but they do have to be digital literates. And making sure that the team does include those deep digital skills that are necessary to really understand where markets are going, where customers' buying preferences are going, and how to deal with the logistics of very complicated businesses. These are the fundamental learnings coming out of this and our other studies.
JULIE HYMAN: Very interesting stuff. Simon, it's always great to see you. Simon Freakley is the CEO of AlixPartners. Thank you, Simon.
