\u201cThis is one of the most testing moments for leaders,\u201d Kande told Fortune<\/em>\u2018s Diane Brady, describing a new \u201ctri-modal\u201d mandate that requires executives to simultaneously run their current business, transform it in real time, and also build entirely new business models for the future. \u201cI\u2019ve not seen that in 25 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Despite this pressure, Kande\u2019s message to the global business community is rooted in historical optimism. \u201cDo not fear the future. It is unsettling. It is true. Every day something changes, but do not fear it,\u201d he said, noting that all the uncertainty so stressful to executives has happened before, from tariffs, roughly 100 years ago, to the industrial revolution, even further back. \u201cEventually, something good will happen.\u201d Kande allowed that he\u2019s an optimist by nature, but he insisted that top leaders can adjust to this business climate.<\/p>\n Of course, a primary driver of this unsettling change is the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), as revealed in PwC\u2019s 29th global CEO survey, \u201cLeading Through Uncertainty in the Age of AI<\/em>,\u201d released at the onset of the annual meeting in Davos. Based on responses from 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries and territories, the survey reveals a stark disconnect between ambition and reality. Kande said the business community made huge strides from 2024 to 2025, going from asking themselves whether they can or should adopt AI to a point where \u201cnobody is asking that question anymore. Everybody\u2019s going for it.\u201d<\/p>\n PwC\u2019s survey finds, however, that only 10% to 12% of companies report seeing benefits on the revenue or cost side, while a staggering 56% say they are getting \u201cnothing out of it.\u201d This echoes the MIT study that shook markets in August with the finding that 95% of generative AI pilots were failing across the corporate sector.<\/p>\n Kande attributed this tension not to the technology itself, but to a lack of foundational rigor. \u201cSomehow AI moves so fast \u2026 that people forgot that the adoption of technology, you have to go to the basics,\u201d he explained, citing the need for clean data, solid business processes, and governance. PwC is finding that the companies that are seeing benefits from AI are \u201cputting the foundations in place.\u201d It\u2019s about execution, not technology, he argued, and that comes down to good management and leadership.<\/p>\n The uncertain environment has also created a paradox in business sentiment, Kande told Fortune<\/em>. While CEOs express confidence in the global economy, only 30% have confidence that they can grow their own businesses. Kande questioned whether this hesitation stems from geopolitics, tariffs, technology, or a lack of leadership agility. The last 15 years, he noted, have been ones of solid growth and stable business models, making this time a real test for the C-suite. \u201cThis is one of the most testing moment for leaders, what we have today,\u201d he said, because it requires the ability to change fast and adapt quickly without getting bogged down in day-to-day, tactical combat.<\/p>\n Only three in 10 CEOs were confident in PwC\u2019s 29th survey about revenue growth over the next 12 months, down from 38% in 2025 and 56% in 2022, marking a five-year low in CEO confidence in their own revenue outlook. Another survey question may be more revealing, about CEO confidence in their company\u2019s 12?month revenue growth: this has fallen sharply over recent years, even as many leaders continue to pursue multiyear opportunities to reinvent their businesses through AI, innovation, and cross-sector expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n The transformation of the CEO role is trickling down to the workforce, necessitating a reimagining of career paths. Kande warned that the traditional \u201capprenticeship model\u201d\u2014where entry-level employees learn by doing basic tasks\u2014is being disrupted by AI. That classic career ladder, starting at the entry level, taught lots of expertise through hands-on learning, but this will have to be redesigned, going forward, to teach \u201csystem thinking\u201d rather than task execution, as AI increasingly handles the latter.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Kande urges executives to look at the last 50 to 100 years rather than the last five to understand the current moment. Citing the infrastructure booms of the railroad era and the early internet, he said he believes the current wave of investment will birth the next age of innovation. The CEO survey\u2019s framing of a coming \u201cdecade of innovation and industry reconfiguration\u201d supports this long-term view, highlighting that companies generating more revenue from new sectors tend to enjoy higher profit margins and higher CEO confidence in future growth.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m an optimist,\u201d Kande concluded. Rather than being afraid of all of the changes that are happening now, he urged leaders to remember that people fear what they don\u2019t understand, and the best remedy for that is to seek understanding. \u201cThat\u2019s why I spend so much time learning now and traveling a lot, just to understand what\u2019s happening and thinking about what can be done differently. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t fear AI.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen change,\u201d Kande said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #companies #theyve #forgotten #basics #PwC #chairman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the past two-and-a-half de… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[4613,6695,648,5347,9404,142,3768,5811,9405],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The AI Execution Gap<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThe Confidence Paradox and U.S. Dominance<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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