The C-suite is a bundle of nerves this winter. A new survey shows that 72 per cent of chief executives are worried about losing their jobs in 2022 because of business disruptions, tracking closely with the 94 per cent of bosses who say their corporate models need to be overhauled within three years.
“That’s eye-poppingly high,” says Simon Freakley, chief executive of management consulting firm AlixPartners, the source of the survey. “Disruptive forces like the supply chain and labour market are all playing out simultaneously.”
Big bosses are always worried about losing their jobs, especially at public companies, where the potential for a sudden adios comes with the cushy chair. But the fear-of-imminent-firing figure surged from 52 per cent in 2020, which itself was a high-anxiety year.
AlixPartners took the pulse of 3,000 chief executives and executives at the director level and above across 10 industries, half with revenue of more than $1 billion. The pool was dispersed across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
Supply chain, labour market and digitalisation topped executives’ list of concerns. While the global pandemic exacerbated the situation, Covid-19 itself was notably missing from the top 10 concerns for 2022, with only 3 per cent of executives citing the virus as their main worry.
Mr Freakley, in an interview, said he has a theory as to what is driving the fear of being ousted: leaders who were relieved to survive 2020 with their business intact discovered in 2021 that, instead of pressures ebbing, they were mired in a continuing pandemic even as shareholders demanded growth.
“They realised that their business models, which have served them well for a number of years, are largely now not fit for the purpose” and they’re rushing to build local, regional and global supply chains, Mr Freakley said.
“We went from what was a rolling sea of worry about economic cycles to a choppy sea of all these disruptive forces.”
So far, the anxiety is not yet showing up in data. Chief executive departures in the US — regardless of whether they were fired or only retired or moved to different jobs — rose 1.1 per cent through November from the same period in 2020, researcher Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
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Match info
Uefa Champions League Group B
Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
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Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
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A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
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Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
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new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
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with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
