It’s been two years since I last examined the challenges facing CEOs and other senior leaders. I developed my thoughts on the current challenges without checking my insights from two years ago. Once I had this year’s themes identified, I looked back to see what I’d written before. To my surprise, I’d titled the blog “Building Trust as a CEO in 2022.”

In 2024, building trust takes on a very different set of challenges than in 2022. Today’s interlinked challenges for CEOs can only be addressed by viewing and guiding their organizations as a system that must be built with trust among the organization’s people and its ecosystem.

Six key areas of the system need attention: three that require urgent and immediate attention, and three that require ongoing focus and attention. All six themes are interrelated, and in some cases, the arguments I make could fit equally well under one of the other areas. Hence, CEOs need to focus on the organization as a whole, living, evolving system.

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