A CEO’s personal network is becoming an increasingly valuable business asset as geopolitical instability, technological disruption, and economic uncertainty push corporate leaders to more frequently seek advice and opportunities from one another.
In a report published in October, executive search firm Egon Zehnder surveyed 843 CEOs globally about the biggest challenges they face and how they are adapting. The findings reveal a growing reliance on relationships, particularly within the business community, to help companies navigate an unpredictable operating environment.
Business alliances ranked as the most important external relationships, cited by 87% of CEOs, followed by informal CEO networks at 47%, and public-private partnerships at 32%. Nearly half of those who prioritized business alliances said those relationships had become more important over the past year.
The prominence of informal CEO networks is particularly revealing. These relationships give executives access to peers confronting similar problems, often across industries and geographies. Such connections can provide early intelligence on shifting markets, opportunities for collaboration, and a trusted space to share sensitive information, air concerns, and discuss challenges they might hesitate to raise outside of a close circle of peers.
Taken together, business alliances and informal networks can also help CEOs test their assumptions. A chief executive weighing an AI investment, supply chain restructuring, or expansion into a politically sensitive market can draw on the experience of peers who have already confronted comparable decisions. The value lies partly in the speed with which trusted relationships can surface practical information and help executives evaluate risks.
This emphasis on networking comes as 62% of CEOs anticipate greater geopolitical disruption over the next 12 months and as AI adoption and its implications top the list of challenges facing their organizations. And these pressures are prompting 30% of CEO respondents to form new strategic alliances and partnerships.
The findings also underscore the personal demands of leading through uncertainty. Some 82% of CEOs said the current environment requires greater leadership endurance than they had previously imagined, while 85% believe future success depends on strengthening both personal resilience and traditional business capabilities.
Of course, building the endurance needed to lead through uncertainty doesn’t have to be a solitary exercise. For CEOs facing mounting pressure, most say that a trusted circle of peers can offer the perspective, support, and experience that even the most seasoned leaders may struggle to find within their own organizations.
Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com
Smarter in seconds
Executive Ed. Why CEOs go back to school after making it to the top
Calendar carnage. Ex–Google CEO Eric Schmidt worked 60-hour weeks: ‘I used to tell people my job is to sit in meetings 12 hours a day.’ He says AI will kill that burden’
Denim reboot. ‘We like to be first to be second’: How True Religion’s CEO is rebuilding the denim brand for Gen Z and millennials
Leadership lesson
Blackstone’s CEO on the data points that inform his investment decisions: “Most people, when they’re presented with something that doesn't make sense, they pay no attention to it because it interrupts their understanding of the world. I just focus on that, and it’s a keystone to tell you where the world is going to shift.”
News to know
Elon Musk said SpaceX had closed $40 billion in debt financing to purchase AI chips expected to arrive in the first half of 2027. CNBC
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly won re-election over Flávio Bolsonaro, dealing a setback to Trump’s ambitions to expand U.S. influence in Latin America. FT
KFC’s decision to replace Pepsi with Coca-Cola after a 40-year partnership reflects Pepsi’s fading brand power and widening gap with its longtime rival. Fortune
Elizabeth Holmes’ partner faces scrutiny over a disease-testing startup that has reportedly raised $20 million but lacks a public product and a CTO. Fortune
AI is driving growth for tech giants but not other industries, Apollo Global Management says. BI
Wells Fargo is shifting a senior consumer banking executive into a full-time AI leadership role, underscoring the bank’s growing focus on the technology. Bloomberg
As AI automates routine finance work, companies risk losing the hands-on training that builds the expertise and judgment needed to become a CFO. Fortune
Executives who invite colleagues to contribute during earnings calls are more likely to become CEOs, according to a study. WSJ