Leadership Confidence Index Draft

Is Your CEO Losing Confidence in Their C-suite?
Leadership Confidence Index H2 2025: Key Trends

CEO confidence in the C-suite is one of the clearest indicators of whether strategy will translate into results. Our latest Leadership Confidence Index (LCI) shows that CEO confidence in the C-suite continues to decline, though the underlying reasons aren’t as straightforward as one might think.

Now in its fifth year, the LCI tracks how confident CEOs are in their C-suite across four key dimensions: future readiness, core capability, strategic acumen, purpose and values. The data consistently shows that CEO confidence in their C-suite is closely linked to organizational performance. Understanding where confidence is strengthening, and where it’s eroding, offers a clear lens into the health of the leadership team and the organization’s capacity to deliver sustained growth.

Figure 1. CEO confidence in the C-suite team impacts organizational performance

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_{Source: H1 & H2 2025 Global Leadership Monitor, n = 732 global CEOs}

Methodology

The Leadership Confidence Index tracks how confident CEOs, C-suite leaders, next-generation leaders (those one or two levels below C-suite), and board directors are in their organization’s leadership across four dimensions: core executive capabilities, strategic insight, purpose and values, and future readiness.

• Core capability: How effective the C-suite team is in leading with competence, cohesion, and credibility, role modeling foundational behaviors that build trust.
• Strategic acumen: How effective the C-suite team is in making well-informed and forward-looking decisions; how robust strategic and decision-making processes are during both routine operations and complex, high-impact moments.
• Purpose and values: How effective the C-suite team is in championing values, culture, and societal impact; how authentic the C-suite team is in modeling inclusion and embracing ESG priorities that shape the organization’s broader purpose.
• Future readiness: How effective the C-suite team is in preparing the organization for its next advancement; how proactive the C-suite team is in leading through relevant transformational changes (e.g. digital acceleration, workforce evolution)

The C-suite team refers to all leaders at the C-level or in the C-suite of the organization, not including the CEO. This includes the CFO, COO, CHRO, and any other C-level positions. The leadership confidence index offers a structured view of where leadership is strong, where it is under pressure, and how perceptions are shifting over time.

In this report, data on CEO confidence in their C-suite team combines responses from 14 items to capture the view of CEOs’ confidence in their C-suite team on a 100-pt scale, with four sub-scores corresponding to the four dimensions.

Core capability

Does the C-suite team:

• Have the right capabilities to lead the organization successfully?
• Work together effectively as a team?
• Role model the right culture and behaviors?

Strategic acumen

Does the C-suite team:

• Have a strong grasp of the competitive dynamics in your industry?
• Have access to the right information to support strong decision-making?
• Receive good advice and input from the supervisory/non-executive board? 
• Have a successful strategy for leadership successions at the C-level?
• Effectively respond to emerging crises?*

Purpose and values

Does the C-suite team:

• Effectively embrace the opportunities of ESG (environmental, social, governance)? 
• Effectively embrace the opportunities of inclusion and culture?

Future readiness

Does the C-suite team:

• Effectively embrace the opportunities of digital transformation?
• Effectively respond to changing workforce expectations?*
• Effectively work to reskill the workforce tor the future?*
• Effectively embrace change?

_{*New attributes included starting from H2 2024 survey}

CEOs were also categorized into low, medium, and high confidence groups based on their overall scores. Those who rated their C-suite at 50 or below were classified as low confidence. CEOs who rated their C-suite between 50 and 75 were classified as medium confidence, while those who assigned a score of 75 or higher were classified as high confidence.

The Leadership Confidence Index is derived from RRA’s Global Leadership Monitor, which is an online survey of executives and non-executives that gathers the perspective of leaders on the impact of external trends on organizational health and their leadership implications. Captured since 2021, the Leadership Confidence Index reflects nearly five years of data across several waves, providing a longitudinal view of how leadership capability is perceived as organizational and market conditions evolve.

Most recently, Russell Reynolds Associates surveyed its global network of executives using an online/mobile survey from September 2 to October 3, 2025. Data from previous Global Leadership Monitor surveys were deployed in February/March 2021, March 2022, October 2022, March 2023, September 2023, March 2024, September 2024, and March 2025.

• Future readiness is the biggest confidence gap. CEO confidence in the C-suite’s ability to prepare the organization for what’s next continues to decline, particularly around digital transformation, AI, and enterprise-wide transformation. Ambition is high, but execution confidence is lagging.
  
  
• Collaboration is lifting perceptions of core capability. For the first time since 2021, confidence in core C-suite capability has increased—driven largely by stronger team effectiveness and visible role modeling of culture and behaviors. CEOs are judging capability less by individual performance and more by how the team operates collectively.
  
  
• Succession remains a persistent weak spot. Confidence in C-suite succession planning is among the lowest-rated areas and continues to decline. Weak succession pipelines are constraining strategic risk-taking and raising governance concerns at both the CEO and board levels.
  
  
• Purpose and sustainability momentum is softening. CEO confidence in the C-suite’s alignment around purpose and values—particularly sustainability—has fallen again. Regulatory complexity, stakeholder pressure, and execution fatigue are making it harder for leadership teams to deliver on public commitments.
  
• Confidence directly impacts performance outcomes. CEOs with high confidence in their C-suite are significantly more likely to report strong financial growth and innovation performance. When confidence is high, decisions move faster and strategy sticks; when it’s low, oversight increases and execution slows.

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