Why We Need to Retrain the C-Suite: CEO Daily

Good morning. We write a lot in CEO Daily about the challenge of retraining employees to handle rapid technological change. But there's been less focus on the need to retrain the C-Suite. That's the topic of an Accenture study out this morning, based on in-depth interviews with 200 top executives. The surprising conclusion: 89% of C-Suiters were educated in business, finance, science or technology, and have well-honed, left-brain analytical skills. But where a majority (65%) admit weakness is in right-brain skills--creativity, empathy, intuition, openness to the external environment. Successfully managing change, the study argues, requires a "whole brain" approach, which in turn requires reshaping and retraining top executive leadership. There's also a lesson there for business schools. Meanwhile, Fed Chief Jerome Powell got markets excited yesterday by acknowledging renewed recession fears--driven in part by trade tensions--and saying the Fed "will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion." The Dow rose 400 points. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also sees recession risks rising. And so do many other economists.