For its latest CEO Pulse, pwc spoke to 164 global CEOs about their views, struggles and approaches to crises.
65 % of the CEOs interviewed said that they had experienced at least one crisis in the past three years. Over half ‘have gone through two or more during that time and 15 % say they’ve been hit by five or more crises in the last three years‘.
Other key findings from the interviews include:
- Rapid, real-time and pervasive communication has substantially increased CEOs concerns over the speed at which a crisis can escalate.
- When asked about the types of crisis they have faced, the majority of CEOs (80 %) say they have experienced a financial crisis. Just over half say they have been hit by an operational crisis (such as a disruption to their supply chain, a facility failure or a recall of products, etc.) or a human capital one (such as a strike, a failure in succession planning or high staff turnover, etc.).
- 91 % of CEOs said they are in charge when a crisis hits. That certainty is a key element of strong leadership. But it needs to be supported by a strategy, a clear plan and a structure to first tackle then recover from the crisis.
- 65 % of CEOs feel most vulnerable about their ability to gather information quickly and accurately during a crisis; 55 % worry about communicating with external stakeholders in a crisis and a similar number have the same concerns when it comes to their own employees.
- 57 % of CEOs feel vulnerable because of an out of date business continuity plan.
- 39 % of CEOs state that their ability to manage a crisis well has actually contributed to revenue growth, while a further 44 % say that a well-managed crisis has not had a negative impact on their top-line growth.
Source: Continuity Central