CEO Top Challenges 2009: Canadian Edition

The Conference Board of Canada partnered with The Conference Board, Inc. in New York for the 2010 CEO Challenge survey. Close to 450 CEOs around the world participated, including 134 Canadian leaders. The survey shows that Canadian CEOs are more concerned than their international counterparts about expansion and growth opportunities, consumer confidence, board of directors oversight, direct labour costs, and short-term financial performance pressure. However, they are less concerned than others about opportunities in emerging economies, environmental issues, government regulation, and women’s advancement. Overall, Canadian CEOs do not feel the same passion or urgency about the challenges facing them as CEOs in other countries do. These data corroborate previous Conference Board of Canada research showing that Canadians are not aggressively tackling the issues holding us back. The survey results summarized in this report help us understand why Canada has been slow to respond to global challenges and opportunities.