By Joann S. Lublin and Vanessa Fuhrmans
Corporate leaders see cybersecurity threats, disruptive
technologies and stiffer competition for talent as some of their
most pressing issues in the new year, according to interviews with
nearly a dozen CEOs.
"I don't think there's any such thing as an easy year for CEOs
anymore," said Jim M. Loree, who just finished his first full year
in the highest job at Stanley Black & Decker Inc.
The growing pressures coincide with a massive changing of the
guard in the corner office, creating one of the largest legions of
new leaders in years to tackle those tough tasks.
Last year, 919 chief executives resigned, retired or got fired
at publicly traded North American companies, the highest number in
at least a decade, according to Liberum Research.
The feverish pace of turnover claimed some of the biggest names
in corporate America, including the leaders of Equifax Inc.,
General Electric Co., Ford Motor Co., Caterpillar Inc., Arconic
Inc., Macy's Inc. and Mondelez International Inc. And on Dec. 31,
Papa John's International Inc. founder John Schnatter stepped down
as CEO.
Departures of company chiefs continue in the new year. On
Tuesday, Rent-A-Center Inc. said founder Mark Speese had stepped
down from its top spot.
Under increased investor pressure, directors are making
unprecedented demands of their chiefs, some leadership specialists
say. "The expectations that boards have of CEOs is that they can do
everything," said Hugh Shields, co-founder and principal at Shields
Meneley Partners LLC, a career-transition and leadership-coaching
firm for senior executives. "In some cases, they are looking for a
unicorn."
The threat of data breaches poses a critical risk, according to
Mr. Loree and several other chief executives.
"These bad actors keep getting smarter and more aggressive," Mr.
Loree said. "It's an ongoing war."
Stanley Black & Decker, which makes power and hand tools,
recruited Mark Maybury as its first chief technology officer in
November. He is a cybersecurity specialist with a doctoral degree
in artificial intelligence. Dr. Maybury's duties include overseeing
cybersecurity, Mr. Loree said.
About 64% of 1,031 human-resources professionals believe data
security and the threat of a cyberbreach will become a very
challenging or extremely challenging issue in 2018, according to a
recent survey by XpertHR, an online provider of compliance
guidance.
Another challenge in the new year will be anticipating how
emerging technologies open new markets or upend their industries,
company leaders say. Julio Portalatin, president and CEO of Mercer
Consulting, a unit of professional-services firm Marsh &
McLennan Cos., said that high on his priority list is guarding
against unforeseen, nimble rivals that could harness automation and
artificial intelligence to poach customers in niche markets. "It's
the [rivals] I don't know about that I'm concerned about," he
said.
To gird Mercer's business against such attacks, Mr. Portalatin
said Mercer formed a business this summer focused on helping
employers use data analytics and other new technologies to recruit
and manage employees and assist their workforces in adapting to a
more digital economy.
New technologies are disrupting the war for top talent as well,
said Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian Corp.,
which has headquarters in Sydney and San Francisco. The maker of
workplace software tools no longer solely competes with other tech
firms for staffers. In their quest to build highly sophisticated
technology platforms, some financial-services giants now have more
software engineers than bankers and traders on their payrolls, Mr.
Cannon-Brookes said.
To fill more than 200 positions currently open at the
2,300-employee company, Atlassian is looking to hire people across
four continents.
The imminent drop in U.S. corporate-tax rates may intensify
political pressure on chief executives to expand their U.S.
workforces, some business leaders say.
Polaris Industries Inc., a producer of snowmobiles, motorcycles
and all-terrain vehicles, expects to hire nearly 100 engineers
world-wide in 2018 and most will work in the U.S., said CEO Scott
W. Wine. The company already employs nearly 900 U.S. engineers.
"With the additional money from tax reform, we can invest a bit
more in our best [research] programs," Mr. Wine said. Those
engineering projects typically generate a new technology, engine or
vehicle.
The Polaris chief anticipates spending about $260 million on
research and development in the new year, compared with just under
$240 million for 2017.
Despite widespread revelations of workplace misconduct that
toppled numerous powerful executives in 2017, most CEOs don't rank
sexual harassment among their top concerns for 2018.
One exception is Anil Chakravarthy, head of software maker
Informatica LLC. The recent scandals have prompted "an extensive
look at our code of conduct [and] what protections we have for
whistleblowers," Mr. Chakravarthy said.
Sexual harassment "is not an issue for us today," he added. "But
I don't want it to be."
Write to Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com and Vanessa
Fuhrmans at vanessa.fuhrmans@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 03, 2018 10:16 ET (15:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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