As a group, corporate America’s C-level executives are a confident lot. The vast majority of them believe in themselves, in their ability to outperform the competition. When it comes to putting that confidence into practice, however, things start to change.
A new survey from Deloitte Consulting finds that the nation’s C-level executives (CXOs) are hesitant to put their confidence into action, in terms of making business decisions or addressing specific obstacles.
“When you talk to the people that we surveyed,” Jim Moffatt, CEO of Deloitte Consulting said this morning on the MoneyBeat show, “that there was a lack of action and confidence in long-term investments. In fact, 50% of the CXOs we surveyed admitted to not displaying confidence in long-term investments.” They are also, he said, not confident in the next generation of leaders.
Part of this is the political uncertainty, he said, and part of it is the hyper pace of change in technology. Either way, it speaks to the low level of capital spending on the corporate level over the past few years, and it points to a collar around the neck of the recovery.
“The key is you have to be willing to invest through uncertainty,” Mr. Moffatt said, adding that his company has been making strategic investments for the past four years.
Source: The Wall Street Journal