Egon Zehnder, the world’s preeminent leadership advisory firm, today released the results of its latest global CEO survey, The CEO Response.
Launched at the Berlin Global Dialogue, the study surveyed 1,235 CEOs, including 132 leaders from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region — over half (53%) of whom are or have been a Group CEO, and finds that leaders are responding to relentless geopolitical upheaval with new levels of adaptability.
Globally, the study reveals that 92% of CEOs say they need to cultivate unprecedented levels of adaptability. While 72% see prospects for global prosperity declining or stagnating, they feel significantly better equipped to navigate this reality.
In APAC, leaders are tackling these shared challenges with a distinct and confident strategy. While sharing the top global challenge of economic uncertainty (43% in APAC vs. 44% globally), their focus is on their people and region.
“Faced with global headwinds, APAC leaders are not waiting for the world to stabilise; they are actively building a more resilient future from within the region,” said Ang Wan May, Singapore Managing Partner, Egon Zehnder.
According to Zehnder, the data demonstrates that APAC leaders are taking global uncertainty in their stride, and their confidence has measurably increased.
“Their response is built on a clear strategy: strengthen regional alliances, invest in technology and AI, and ground it all in a deep personal commitment to adaptability for themselves and their teams,” stated Zehnder.
CEOs have shown an extraordinary ability to learn from and adapt amid uncertainty and global instability. Beyond managing crises and business upheavals, they are actively defining how to contribute to global prosperity, whether through their business practices or by engaging beyond the boundaries of their organisations, noted Michael Ensser, Global Chair of Egon Zehnder, in reference to the study’s findings.
“Leadership today means forging new paths with strategic foresight, pragmatism, and collective intelligence,” Ensser explained. “Many leaders have recently invested specifically in honing these skills. That investment is now paying off.”
This year’s study shows a notable rise in confidence among APAC leaders. When asked how prepared their organisation is to face inherent complexity (on a 10-point scale where 10 is “not at all prepared”), the percentage of APAC CEOs who feel moderately unprepared (rating 7/10) dropped significantly, from 24% in 2024 to 17% this year.
This confidence is built on a deep, personal investment in a new, more human-centric leadership style. A striking 66% of APAC CEOs “Strongly Agree” they need to cultivate adaptability in themselves and their teams, significantly higher than the global average of 55%.
This mindset is reflected in the skills they are prioritising, with APAC leaders placing greater importance on honing their listening skills (35% “extremely important” vs. 29% globally) and on ensuring the inclusion of diverse and challenging views (27% vs. 19%).
As global prospects dim, 97% of all CEOs still desire to contribute positively to global prosperity. The study reveals that APAC leaders feel a stronger mandate to act on this desire, with 48% believing they have a responsibility to engage outside their business, compared to 40% of their global counterparts.
The desire to contribute to global prosperity, whether within or outside their organisations, signals a profound expansion of leadership purpose. Globally, female CEOs (81%) in particular see this as a central part of their mandate, compared with their male counterparts (72%).
