Fortune's Spring 2025 CEO Survey shows increasing pessimism
In today's CEO Daily: Diane Brady on Fortune's CEO Survey.
The big story: The recession keeps failing to show up.
The markets: Low drama.
Analyst notes from Deutsche Bank on China, EY on consumer sentiment, and Macquarie and Convera on the dollar.
Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. We just released our Spring 2025 Fortune CEO Survey, in collaboration with Deloitte, showing a dramatic drop in optimism compared with the survey we conducted in November. About 60% of CEOs were optimistic about their company's performance when polled in April, vs. 84% in November. Pessimism about the global economy rose to 58% from 18% just after Trump's victory. Deloitte U.S. CEO Jason Girzadas joined me for a virtual roundtable with other CEOs yesterday to discuss their strategies.
With uncertainty high, Girzadas noted, being agile and adaptable is a more important skill in leaders than the ability to predict what's next. Among the top priorities cited by leaders in our survey: supply-chain mobilization, increased investment in AI and a continued focus on managing costs. 'We're seeing a simplification of the agenda on management teams with the focus on a few critical priorities,' he said. 'You have to be responsive in the short term but given all these forces of change, the opportunity for rethinking business models writ large is there.'
Here are edited highlights from some of the CEOs who joined us:
Dave Bozeman, CH Robinson. 'We have over 83,000 customers. Not all of them are able to move product forward. Some automotive systems were designed for years to be just-in-time. With the 90-day pause, we have seen an uptick right away in people starting to move product from China. There's been a flurry of activity. You have to be calm, measured, and data-driven, driving a good lean operating model with technology.'
Scott Boatwright, . 'You're balancing what's right for the company, the consumer, as well as for earnings. We are all beholden in public companies to the investor and we have to manage the expectations of the constituents that have invested in this brand ... The consumer is in a good place today, but fear is at an all-time high. We have 130,000 team members, 52% of whom are Hispanic. While we e-verify every team member, they have friends or family members who could be facing ramifications from what this administration hopes to accomplish, whether that's job loss or potential deportation. It's important as leaders and organizations to help support them.'
Christina Kosmowski, LogicMonitor. 'Middle management are the ones carrying this every day. They're the connective tissue to the frontline workforce, and they're burnt out. I think a lot about how are we helping them and enabling them. AI is not being executed as fast as everyone thought it could and I think that's because of this middle layer.'
Himanshu Palsule, Cornerstone. 'This change to the future of work has been in the making for five to 10 years, and in some ways I'm glad it's getting forced to a decision now. Everything around you is changing, and it's going to change even faster: business models, pricing, supply chains, how things are procured, how things are sold. There is now a new virtual reality of AI.'
Padraig McDonnell, Agilent. 'We're doubling down on innovation because that's going to fuel growth as customers need new technologies. We're asymmetrically investing in some innovation projects right now so we can come out of this stronger.'
John Lee, . 'We're kind of ground zero for the trade wars. The tariffs added a whole other level of uncertainty and running around. We have teams of people trying to figure out first, can we comply? And then how do we mitigate for the short term.'
Cid Wilson, Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility. 'Attacks on DEI are pushing companies to do things that may not be consistent with their corporate values. And the employees are seeing this. When you come into the office, you're bringing everything that we're hearing with you. And this has an impact on productivity.'
There are areas of optimism in the survey, too, so check it out. Next week, I'll bring you insights from a CEO dinner cohosted by Chrissy Taylor of Enterprise Mobility in her home in St. Louis. If you'd like to participate in these CEO gatherings, reach out to Sarah Worob at sarah.worob@fortune.com.
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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