The 2025 CEO Outlook
The CEO’s Clarity Crisis5 mindshifts for growth
How can leaders tune out the noise to navigate uncertainty?

“AI is evolving so quickly every day that we should ride this wave and move forward.”
Miki Tsusaka
President, Microsoft Japan

of CEOs say the risk of falling behind drives them to invest in some technologies before they have a clear understanding of the value they bring to the organization.
What is your organization’s top barrier to innovation?
Change has always been constant. Just not this constant. Leaders have one job — keep pushing forward and innovating with a plan.
Make Courage
your core
Today’s marketplace is chaotic, contradictory, and complex. Leaders must prepare for the future despite uncertainty.


But playing it safe might be the riskiest move of all.
Let confidence fuel calculated courage.
Clarity—and fluidity—can be created
when data meets direction.
Today’s CEOs are looking beyond brilliant ideation to disciplined execution.

of CEOs surveyed agree, “We measure innovation success by business outcomes delivered rather than the volume of pilots initiated or ideas produced.”
Embrace AI-fueled
creative destruction
As AI spreads, it’s burning away outdated habits that suffocate growth, but teams are still clinging to what's familiar—or stuck without the tools to let go.

of CEOs say AI changes aspects of their business that they consider core.
Refine what works and burn down what doesn’t.
Reverse-engineer the strategy, mobilize your data, and build a brain where AI drives the action.
Cultivate a vibrant data environment.
The risk isn’t bad data—
it’s disconnected data.
Feed your organization the data it needs to thrive, and make technology more empowering
—not more complex.
68%
of CEOs say an integrated enterprise-wide data architecture is critical to enable cross-functional collaboration and drive innovation.
And
72%
say realizing the full value of generative AI depends on effectively leveraging their organization’s proprietary data.
Explore our Data Matters hub to learn how you can tackle data and AI challenges like integration.






Ignore FOMO,
lean into ROI.

Hype tempts you to swing big.
But will it land? Headlines fade. Results don’t.
Great leaders don’t chase shiny objects—they build engines that last. Stop relying on yesterday’s models to make tomorrow’s decisions.
“While navigating a changing landscape, we have managed to find financial resources to invest in innovations such as AI—which do not immediately show up in ROI—and set up an innovation quota.”
Toshiaki Sumino
CEO, Dai-ichi Life
Insurance Company

85%
of CEOs expect a positive ROI for scaled AI efficiency and cost savings investments by 2027.

25%
52%
Over the past three years, CEOs say only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered expected ROI; only 52% say their GenAI investments are delivering value beyond cost reduction.
Borrow the talent
you can’t buy.
AI is rewriting the org chart—with skills that aren’t in the building.
Buy, build, bot. And borrow.
AI won’t replace your team—but the teams who know how to use it will.
Train your people to lead the shift.
“As the demands of the times shift, we must also reform our talent structure…To cope with uncertainty, we must cultivate a circle of allies.”
Aiqing Yang
CEO, JA Solar
67%
of CEOs say differentiation depends on having the right expertise in the right positions with the right incentives.
But
31%
of the workforce will require retraining and/or reskilling over the next three years.
And don’t forget, the talent you need may already be in the room—just wearing a partner’s badge. Give them the tech, the training, and the green light to run



Put insights into action

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Unlock the value of your data
Research and methodology
The IBM Institute for Business Value, in cooperation with Oxford Economics, conducted a global survey in the first quarter of 2025.
Read more- Make Courage your core
- Embrace AI-fueled creative destruction
- Ignore FOMO, lean into ROI
- Cultivate a vibrant data environment
- Borrow the talent you can’t buy