Insights
Russell Reynolds Associates: Report Reveals Customers Dominate but Employees Edge Out Investors and the Board As Key Stakeholders
Russell Reynolds Associates released its 2021 Global Leadership Monitor, the first report of its kind to track top business issues and leadership preparedness to face them. The findings shed light on the significant challenges and impacts business leaders have faced since the start of the pandemic, as well as their confidence and concerns in navigating the road ahead.
Russell Reynolds Associates surveyed 1,327 business leaders across 53 countries and all major industry sectors. The survey highlights several pertinent issues for leadership teams, including concern about talent availability, leadership softness on issues of ESG and DE&I, and disconnects between boards and management teams.
Despite the challenges and concerns leaders expressed, most respondents expressed confidence in their collective ability to handle the residual commercial-focused business issues stemming from the pandemic, including economic uncertainty, technological disruption and changing consumer behavior.
“Leaders have been challenged this last year, and many have succeeded against the odds,” said Clarke Murphy, CEO of Russell Reynolds Associates. “As leaders work on their growth plans, it will be very important that they zero in on leadership capability and culture. The long-term ramifications of the pandemic, as well as the critical dynamics of ESG and DE&I, will reveal which leadership teams have simply been good crisis managers, and which have built the foundations for their organizations to emerge stronger.”