Meet The New Boss A Leadership Primer For 2022

In today’s uncertain and challenging times, the C-suite is starting to look very different. A Russell Reynolds study finds out how different the C-suite would look in 2022 and what new skills will the CEO and CXO add to their repertoire.

- Sachin Rajan

In today’s challenging times for corporations, the C-suite is starting to look very different. The corner office is anything but stable — increasingly rare is the elder statesman who spent a long successful career at this one company. This era is rampant with multi-tasking, job-hopping talent; millennials, either launching companies or “arriving” at companies with soaring expectations that infrequently match capability. Amidst all this there is pressure to disrupt, or be disrupted.

Russell Reynolds partnered with Trendera late last year to take a closer look at this. Could we identify the forces (dark and positive) that will shape commerce and industry in, say, 2022? And if we could, what would these imply in terms of how different the C-suite would start to look?

What new skills will the CEO and CXO add to their repertoire?

Approximately 50 conversations with top leaders across the globe later, here is what our crystal ball threw up.

First off, a look at some of the top trends or forces that are driving change:

FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE: THE “C” LEVEL CONTINUES TO RISE

Functional experts are likely to seriously break out of silos and take on more strategic roles. No longer condemned to niches, these specialists will demand and establish clear roles in the value-creation process. The “ask” of these individuals too will soar. With technology getting embedded in finance, predictive analytics being used in hiring — the CFO and CHRO in 2022 will start to need a spectrum of new skills.

TECHNOLOGY SHIFTS: FROM JARGON TO FLUENCY