“It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.” - Pope John XXIII

Managers are concerned with the performance of their teams, CEOs on the other hand, have a lot more to worry about. Typically, we think of senior leadership as primarily concerned with the business, revenue and even the reputation of the organization. However, that’s not always the case. Executives are also worried about how their team functions as a whole and how individual growth and understanding plays into the bigger picture. There are the common leadership pains that keep your CEO up at night besides changes in the stock market.

Response to technological growth

The world of work is changing, and not just in the way we work. The way we work has been drastically altered by the developments in technology. The rapid change in technology is a challenge for 58% of CEOs because it highlights a shortage of key skills that could hinder growth. They set their hiring managers on a mission to hire the candidates who have the ability to learn and grow into the changing workplace.

“Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.” - Daniel J. Boorstin 

Competition in the battle for talent

The battle for these highly qualified candidates is increasingly competitive. So to stay competitive in the marketplace, CEOs have to understand that the defense for this front is talent that outperforms that of their competitors. The skills gap is a serious concern for 63% of CEOs, and in response, about half of these leaders planning to hire more people in the next 12 months.

“We’ve more or less solved the skills gap by recruiting and training and developing and engaging the right kind of people. It requires attention. It requires investment, all those types of things. There’s a solution to the skills gap.” Jeff Owens

Partnering with industry leaders

Strategic partnerships help organizations grow and collaborate. In fact, 56% of CEOs label these relationships as vital to their business. These partnerships can help CEOs build momentum in economic and talent growth, but they have to be thoughtfully planned and maintained.

“Latching on to a bigger, well-known brand through a mutually beneficial partnership is a way to quickly build your own brand and credibility.” - Matt Ehrlichman.

Diversity in tough situations

It’s a recent ongoing initiative for CEOs, especially in male-dominated fields. Companies like Google have made progress in their gender diversity efforts with women making up 30% of the company’s .... However, these women only hold 17% of the company’s tech jobs. With the increasing social pressure to expand diversity internally, diversity remains a top concern for many CEOs.

“Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to live without.” William Sloane Coffin Jr.

Your CEOs worry about things outside strictly economic gain, as the stereotype would suggest. The success of the teams within the organization are the foundation of their company, so therefore they are the collateral many senior leadership struggle with. Your senior leadership wants to create better teams to develop the building blocks of a better company.  They are worried about growth, competition, partnerships and diversity. Keeping the team healthy and afloat incites insomnia, and because of these concerns, CEOs stay awake at night pondering solutions and key human capital management solutions.

Bio: Sean Pomeroy

While selling other companies software solutions, Sean worked with Michael Warden to design over a dozen applications for different organizations and industries over the years. Sean now focuses on the vision for the company, business development, and continues involvement in the software design of Cyber Recruiter, applicant tracking system and Cyber Train, learning management system. Want to see what Visibility Software has to offer? Take a demo now.

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