1、The 2026 CEO Agenda:Where Ambition Outpaces ExecutionOur latest CEO survey finds leaders confident in their vision.But amid rising turbulence,most organizations arent built to deliver it.By Hernan Saenz,Dunigan OKeeffe,James Allen,and Bhavya Nand KishoreCopyright 2026 Bain&Company,Inc.All rights res
2、erved.1The 2026 CEO Agenda:Where Ambition Outpaces ExecutionAt a Glance The best performers run two tracks simultaneously:delivering today while building tomorrows growth engine.Yet fewer than half of CEOs believe that their organizations can adapt and execute at the speed the market now requires.AI
3、 should help.But most CEOs use it for productivity gains alone,and more than 80%arent satisfied with the results.The path forward:Build adaptability and resilience,strengthen execution,and scale AI beyond pilots.Ask CEOs how confident they are in their strategy,and most will say very.Ask whether the
4、ir board is aligned,their leadership team committed,their ambition clear:same answer.The vision is there.But it requires companies to simultaneously take their current core business to full potential and build new growth engines.Thats difficult enough in placid times.In the face of todays turbulence
5、,fewer than half of the CEOs we surveyed believe that their organizations are agile enough to adapt and execute.Middle layers remain bureaucratic.Decision processes slow rather than accelerate.AI,often treated as the solution,is deployed narrowly.And more than 80%of CEOs arent satisfied with what it
6、s delivering.This is what our 2026 CEO Agenda Survey reveals:not a crisis of leadership at the top but a gap between where strategy is set and how it is delivered.The threats are clear;the organizations arent readyFor most of the past century,strategy was a deliberate craft.The business landscape sh