Designing for growth in the C-suite

Setting the stage for growth: Speaking the language of the C-suite

Regardless of role, there are clear expectations that executives should come to the C-suite with strong business backgrounds. In fact, the top 10 most-cited skills in our analysis of 46,000 job postings reveal three areas that are ubiquitous across the C-suite: business strategy, business operations, and business management (figure 1).

But our analysis also shows it’s not solely about possessing strong business backgrounds—or at least not anymore. As the C-suite is asked to bring new perspectives to the organization, we explore how two new shifts in role design—quantitative experience plus risk and regulatory expertise—can be positioned in a manner that catalyzes growth.

Building the quantitative C-suite

As technology and artificial intelligence grow in capability, organizations tend to look for new ways to integrate these solutions into their business operations and strategy. Infusing strategy with more quantitative expertise may offer a path for turning new capabilities, like generative AI, from efficiency plays (typically an organization’s first forms of adoption) to growth drivers (such as improving existing products and services and increasing revenue).

This may be why we see a substantial increase in demand across the C-suite for more quantitative expertise. Deloitte’s State of Generative AI in the Enterprise report shows that as expertise increases, so do the appetites for implementing generative AI for growing the business. Organizations surveyed with “very high” levels of quantitative expertise are significantly more likely to have already adopted Generative AI solutions for marketing, sales, customer service, research and development, and product development.¹

Every C-suite role included in our analysis has experienced a significant uptick in the demand for some form of quantitative background between 2018 and 2023 (figure 2). This is especially true for research and development, analytics, and general science and research skills.

These shifts may also signal an important evolution occurring at the strategic level of the organization. Consider the role of the CSO: In 2018, a background in analysis, research, and development was the twenty-seventh most frequent requirement for CSO postings; by 2023 it had become the tenth most cited requirement (figure 3). The other five roles in our analysis follow a similar trajectory, an early sign that organizations may be seeking to quickly add this expertise—or at least the ability to speak a common quantitative language—across the entire enterprise to drive growth.

Reframing the language of risk and regulation

The C-suite is experiencing a similar surge in demand for risk and regulatory backgrounds. While nearly every C-suite leader is increasingly being asked to bring these skills to the role, in our analysis of job postings, CSOs in particular experienced a 208% increase in demand for regulation and legal compliance since 2018 (figure 4). Similarly, CFOs are increasingly expected to have a strong grasp of risk management—a skill requirement that appeared in 9% of postings in 2018 and grew to 19% of postings in 2023. And CHROs are experiencing a steady increase in demand for labor compliance skills, from 16% in 2018 to 24% in 2023.

Historically, risk and regulation have been reactive approaches—for example, quickly responding to a supply chain shock or adjusting processes to adhere to new regulations. But as the world has collectively navigated an onslaught of new uncertainties in the form of a pandemic, geopolitical instabilities, and climate events, to name a few, many organizations are pivoting to proactively transform their businesses.² That may mean developing new products that better meet the needs of a changing world or reorganizing a supply chain to flourish no matter the external circumstances.

However, it may be difficult to capitalize on these changing environments if businesses do not consider how their revenue-generating initiatives fit into a risk or regulatory strategy. And notably, the one exception to this shift in C-suite skills is the chief revenue officer. While the other five roles in our analysis are increasingly expected to be well-versed in risk and regulation, the CRO has not seen a similar trend. Given their mandate to grow revenues, they could either lean on their C-suite peers to help inform strategy or jeopardize limiting their risk and regulation initiatives to more reactionary approaches.

Further, the opportunity to work with regulation seems to only be growing. This could mean working directly with regulatory agencies or changing processes or products to better integrate into the new environments created by the regulations themselves. For example, the US Department of Energy established a technology commercialization fund that issued over US$35 billion in loans and loan guarantees for large-scale energy projects,³ the Swedish Energy Agency provided US$100 million in grants to 250 startups in developing green solutions,⁴ and Norway incentivizes electric vehicle development by granting EV consumers reduced tolls and parking fees.⁵ With new opportunities continuing to emerge, the C-suite can benefit from an enterprisewide strategy to not only react to regulation, but grow from it.⁶

An evolving C-suite needs soft skills to flourish

With so much change in the technical makeup of the C-suite, leaders may need exceptional personal and human skills to help assess how they bring solutions to market, communicate their vision to internal and external stakeholders, and lead their teams through strategic execution. When it comes to their broader workforce, employers surveyed by the World Economic Forum describe the most in-demand skills between now and 2027 as a mix of technical expertise (for example, analytical thinking and technical literacy) and human skills (for example, leadership, social influence, and creative thinking).⁷

The good news: Across the board, C-suite role postings frequently cite the need for leadership and initiative, communication, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills (figure 5). In many cases, the frequency in role postings of these human capabilities is steadily growing as well. While CFO roles have comparatively lower percentages, there was an increase in job postings analyzed over the last six years related to initiative and leadership (61% to 70%), communication (41% to 47%), and critical thinking and problem-solving (35% to 42%).

As CRO postings pursue greater quantitative backgrounds, they are also turning up the demand for critical thinking and problem-solving (33% to 53% in six years). And encouragingly, the CHRO, which is traditionally anchored in people development, consistently shows some of the highest rates of human skills and capabilities in their job postings.

It may be a promising sign that organizations seem to be prioritizing these human capabilities in the C-suite. But taking steps to ensure these skills go beyond role descriptions and are seamlessly woven into decision-making and cross-role collaboration may be easier said than done.

For instance, across the entire workforce, Deloitte’s 2024 Global Human Capital Trends report highlights that 73% of respondents acknowledge that human capabilities need to move in step with technological innovation, even though only 9% say they are making progress toward achieving that balance. However, when organizations are able to bridge the gap between knowing that human capabilities are important and embedding them into the organization, they are 1.8 times more likely to achieve their desired business outcomes (like growth goals) than those organizations that are unable to bridge this gap.⁸

In this spirit, some organizations are focusing their hiring efforts on “T-shaped” employees: people with human capabilities such as creativity (the vertical stroke of the T) and a willingness to collaborate across functions (the horizontal stroke of the T).⁹ Organizations can consider a similar approach to their executive searches as well. And on the development side, research shows that soft skills can be cultivated to improve outcomes in work, school, and other domains.¹⁰

Preparing for growth

Though the evolving demands for the modern C-suite are still unfolding, there likely won’t be any wholesale changes overnight for most organizations. A Korn Ferry study estimates the average C-suite tenure is 4.9 years (with variations depending on role).¹¹ Given this reality, these evolutions will likely occur incrementally over a multiyear horizon. In some respects, this can grant organizations time to adjust, but simultaneously, it may be challenging to seamlessly integrate new experiences and capabilities as the evolution slowly takes shape across the organization.

Organizations can consider the following three recommendations to prepare current executives, develop high-potential future leaders, and ready the organization for a new way of integrating modern skills and expertise:

• Keeping your (executive) edge: Today’s incumbents do not necessarily need to become quantitative experts or masters of regulatory changes. However, these shifts in executive talent do highlight the importance of being able to speak the new language of the C-suite. Beyond attending industry forums or specialized trainings, C-suite leaders can also engage in “reverse mentoring,” a practice where younger employees help teach and guide leaders on new and emerging ideas and skills. Further, this practice has also shown to have the added benefit of cultivating connection and belonging for younger employees.¹²
• Coaching for success(ion): Organizations can extend training and rotational programs to include high performers identified as potential C-suite successors, creating space for vice presidents and directors to participate in rotational programs that expose them to key quantitative, and risk and regulatory–related areas of the business.
• Designing for incremental change (management): As a leader’s skills evolve and change, their respective functions will likely evolve in-step, resulting in new skills and processes for their workforces. And unlike rapid transformation (which often comes with its own challenges), these skills changes can develop over years. As such, some organizations are taking a more agile approach to work, moving away from rigid, defined roles and instead matching skills to business issues.¹³ This shift in mindset can allow the organization to start identifying the skills they need and targeting those specific skills to execute the tasks. Unilever, for example, targeted more than 80,000 potential tasks to complete over the next five years and then built their talent model around those specific needs.¹⁴

While skills and responsibilities will evolve over time, the need to drive a uniform growth agenda across the organization will almost certainly remain a constant. The organizations that learn to speak the new language of the C-suite and develop, recruit for, and harness new skill sets can elevate their C-suite and the bottom line.