6 Leadership Habits To Thrive In Chaos, According To An IBM CEO Study
Leading in uncertainty starts with 6 key leadership habits.
From geopolitical unrest and trade volatility to market uncertainty and stalled M&A activity, today's CEOs face no shortage of disruption. Add in the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, which is now transforming every layer of the organizational hierarchy, and the complexity intensifies. This level of turbulence isn't novel, but it has increased in intensity. What worked in 2023 won't work in 2025. That message comes through clearly in the latest IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) C-suite Study, which surveyed 2,000 CEOs across 33 countries and 24 industries. The findings reveal what's keeping top executives up at night and the key leadership habits that set the highest performers apart.
According to the IBM IBV study, forecast accuracy is the top CEO priority in 2025, a dramatic shift from 2023, when it ranked 15th. Predictability has become the new currency in a world fueled by rapid change. Those who can better anticipate market shifts, customer behavior, and operational outcomes will be in leading positions. Productivity and profitability remain critical, but they've moved from first to second in priority. Innovation, particularly in products and services, rounds out the top three.
As Gary Cohn, IBM's Vice Chairman, said in the report, 'Today's leaders who aren't leveraging AI and their own data to move forward are making a conscious business decision not to compete.' Yet amid the opportunity lies increasing pressure.
In 2025, CEOs cite supply chain performance, talent recruitment and retention, and business model innovation as their top challenges, a notable shift from just two years ago when supply chain concerns ranked near the bottom. However, technology alone will not solve these problems. CEOs must upgrade their business tools and internal operating systems (i.e., mindset) to lead in today's environment.
Among the thousands surveyed, IBM identified a top-performing group comprising just 14% of the sample. These "Luminary CEOs" don't just act differently. They think differently. They significantly outperformed their peers in revenue growth, AI integration, and operating margin. Here are the key leadership habits that set them apart:
Luminary CEOs lead organizations with tightly integrated business functions. In a volatile environment, operational connectivity allows faster pivots and sustained momentum. But connection isn't just technical; it mirrors leadership. When CEOs are distracted, reactive, or fragmented, that disconnection cascades throughout the company. The most agile companies have leaders who manage their energy and priorities meticulously.
Decisiveness under chaos and uncertainty is a competitive advantage. The IBM study emphasizes the value of acting with speed and conviction, not disorganized haste. Effective CEOs make clear calls with limited information by relying on strong internal principles, focused attention, capable teams, and disciplined energy management. Decision fatigue and potential burnout are pervasive. Therefore, guarding your cognitive space and setting aside time to let your mind wander is just as important as managing your stakeholder relationships.
As the IBM study noted, top-performing CEOs know AI's potential and embrace their role in responsibly governing it. Ethical leadership isn't just about compliance. It also shapes culture, builds trust, and appeals to emerging generations of talent (Gen Z especially) who value transparency, purpose, and integrity.
While most CEOs think in quarters, top performers operate on much longer time horizons. They don't wait for disruption to hit; they anticipate it. This mindset attracts forward-thinking talent and allows companies to shape markets rather than chase and react to them. In a world driven by reaction, the ability to think proactively and avoid corporate "group thinking" is the mark of a modern leader.
Being informed isn't just about staying current; it's about seeing patterns early and interpreting them accurately into tangible outcomes. Forward-thinking CEOs actively assess how new technologies, like generative AI, will reshape roles, systems, and outcomes. Strategic insight requires margin and space equating to time for reflection, zooming out, and making sense of complexity before taking action.
Speed is often less about tools and tactics and more about friction. High-performing CEOs identify and remove resistance, often in the form of bureaucracy, culture, or personal. They reduce their internal drag by cultivating deeper clarity levels, cutting red tape, and building cultures that can adapt quickly. Equally important, they eliminate their blind spots—physical, mental, or emotional—that might slow them down and affect their leadership.
Just as pilots calmly communicate through turbulence while steering their aircraft precisely, today's CEOs must become unshakeable captains—steady in chaos and clear under pressure. The organizations that continue to innovate, retain top talent, and execute key leadership habits at the highest level in an unpredictable environment share one important commonality: they're led by individuals who can lead through uncertainty because they've learned how to lead themselves.
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