Capitalizing on Complexity--IBM

Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study

This study is based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,500 chief executive officers worldwide

http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03297usen/GBE03297USEN.PDF

This series of studies by IBM are excellent and I plan to excerpt different parts of it in future postings.

"This study is the fourth edition of our biennial Global CEO Study series,
led by the IBM Institute for Business Value and IBM Strategy & Change.To better understand the challenges and goals of today’s CEOs, we met
face-to-face with the largest-known sample of these senior executives.
Between September 2009 and January 2010, we interviewed 1,541 CEOs,
general managers and senior public sector leaders who represent different
sizes of organizations in 60 countries and 33 industries  

Today’s complexity is only expected to rise, and more than half
of CEOs doubt their ability to manage it. Seventy-nine percent of
CEOs anticipate even greater complexity ahead. However, one set of
organizations—we call them “Standouts”—has turned increased complexity
into financial advantage over the past five years.
 Creativity is the most important leadership quality, according to
CEOs. Standouts practice and encourage experimentation and innovation
throughout their organizations. Creative leaders expect to make deeper
business model changes to realize their strategies. To succeed, they take
more calculated risks, find new ideas, and keep innovating in how they
lead and communicate.
  The most successful organizations co-create products and services
with customers, and integrate customers into core processes.
They are adopting new channels to engage and stay in tune with customers.
By drawing more insight from the available data, successful CEOs make
customer intimacy their number-one priority.
  Better performers manage complexity on behalf of their
organizations, customers and partners. They do so by simplifying
operations and products, and increasing dexterity to change the way
they work, access resources and enter markets around the world.
Compared to other CEOs, dexterous leaders expect 20 percent more
future revenue to come from new source"