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According to Chief Executive’s latest polling, CEOs rank gaining market share as their top priority for 2025, with 58 percent of the 149 polled saying that it makes the top of the list. Gaining market share was the third on the list of priorities last year, at 56 percent behind improving cost structure and retaining employees (both among the top three again this year).
Polled CEOs say that the new administration could make for a favorable business environment which would allow room for growth. Eighty-four percent of CEOs expect revenue growth in the year ahead with one third expecting a healthy rate of 5 to 10 percent; the fraction expecting revenue growth was only 75 percent one year prior.
The second most important priority for the CEOs who responded to our survey? Retaining and engaging employees, at 57 percent. This ranked first in 2024, at 60 percent.
With some headlines announcing the latest round of massive layoffs and others reporting ongoing labor shortages, it’s difficult to know the state of the labor market. What is clear is that a large proportion of CEOs are still focused on retention and engagement above a multitude of other issues. That’s an ongoing trend: in 2022, when CEOs were asked to choose their top priorities from a list, 57 percent of CEOs ranked retaining and engaging employees as their top priority.
Only 40 percent said that recruiting new employees is a priority; however, that figure is up from last year when only 35 percent listed recruitment as a priority—those still lower than the 42 percent in 2022. With 60 percent of CEOs reporting an increase to their headcount, it’s clear that hiring is not on pause quite yet.
When asked about their biggest challenges for the year ahead, 50 percent of the surveyed CEOs say rising costs (including tariffs) is their main challenge. This is similar to the top challenge of both 2024 and 2022, namely, inflation pressure which a larger majority of CEOs said would be a challenge last year at 59 percent.
Retaining and engaging employees again comes in second, with 39 percent of CEOs selecting it as a top challenge. Recruiting workers ranks at third, again, now at 38 percent. Worth noting: This pattern holds true regardless of size the company (by revenue).
Some challenges seem to be a thing of the past, such as interest rates/access to capital and passing price increases through to customers, which were both selected less in 2025 than in 2024.
However, certain issues are worth keeping an eye on, such as supply chain disruptions, which 20 percent of CEOs ranked as formidable challenge for this year compared to only 15 percent the year prior. Employee health and safety as well as the return to office also saw large increases in CEO focus from last year.
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