The survey, known as the 2023 Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey, was conducted among over 400 CEOs from around the world and across various industries, revenue and company sizes between July and December 2022.

One in five respondents highlighted AI as the top technology with potentially industry-wide implications.

Economic concerns saw half of the CEOs surveyed identify growth as their primary strategic business priority, followed by technology and workforce issues. However, with the recent developments in AI, technology may be the catalyst for growth.

Mark Raskino, VP Analyst at Gartner, said: “Generative AI will profoundly impact business and operating models. However, fear of missing out is a powerful driver of technology markets. AI is reaching the tipping point where CEOs who are not yet invested become concerned that they are missing something competitively important.”

The survey highlights that the priorities of CEOs are stabilising after a period of increased volatility, with increased focus on talent, sustainability, and digital transformation. For the first time in the Gartner CEO survey history, environmental sustainability made its way into the top 10 priorities for CEOs. With environmental sustainability rising 25% in importance over the previous year’s survey. 

Of the concerns identified by CEOs in this survey, a major one was inflation. 22% of respondents ranked it as the most damaging business risk. As a response to inflation, CEOs turned to increasing prices (44%), optimising costs (36%), and productivity efficiency and automation (21%). 

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However, analysts at Gartner believe CEOs may not be sufficiently prioritising productivity in an inflationary period. Emphasising the need for automation to redesign methods, processes, and products for greater efficiency rather than passing on cost increases to customers.

Another challenge facing CEOs is talent retention. 26% identified the talent shortage as the most damaging risk to their organisations. CEOs found that compensation concerns were the most significant in employee behaviour, followed by greater flexibility in hybrid work arrangements.