Alice Breeden is Regional Managing Partner CEO & Board practice for Heidrick & Struggles based in London. This episode is based on the recent research completed by Heidrick focused on CEO and Board confidence. Alice highlights that there is so much happening in the world over shorter time periods that no leader has all the answers and every leader must be ever ready for the challenges. CEO and Board positions are a world that only few will occupy. Those who do, will need to operate in an environment of constant change, pressure and expectation. The Confidence research is being tracked quarterly by Heidrick throughout the year in order to help advise leaders and also stay up to date and relevant as possible. The research findings represents data from almost 3,500 respondents from major organisations and key findings included low confidence in an organisations ability to reach their 2024 goals and low confidence in the longer term succession and leadership planning. The low confidence around reaching goals was predicated on leaders dealing with themes beyond their control and strategy is difficult per se and requires constant amending, This compares with the fact that confidence is high in executive teams so organisations feel they have the right people but the landscape is problematic. The role of the Board has also changed over time, they too have shifted in their capabilities coupled with a deep sense of curiosity to deal with complex topics such as AI, climate and sustainability to name just a few. I also ask Alice about her thoughts on the role of Human Centred Leadership in CEO and Board roles . She explains that those in role understand success will be determined not just by their technical competence but very much by their ability to lead as a human with a deep sense of propose, curiosity, humility. constant learning, adaptability and agility. The Top 4 concerns for CEO's according to the Heidrick research included 1. Economic uncertainty 2. Geopolitical volatility 3. Workforce attraction and retention and 4. Shifts in market dynamics. We also talk about culture in this episode as 83% of the companies surveyed are actively working on their culture as it is a key differentiator in the quest for success.