The #1 Question CEOs Are Asking In 2024

By Jennifer Morgan

The weather is warming up, and so is CEO confidence. It’s an exciting shift, and one that broadly aligns with how we at Blackstone see the environment today: cooling inflation and economic resilience – albeit with slowing growth likely as the impact of the Fed’s protracted rate-hiking campaign continues to work its way through the system.

But the 250+ executives, entrepreneurs and experts gathered at the 2024 Blackstone CEO Conference were less focused on this recent uptick in confidence than they were the long-term uncertainties facing their businesses. Blackstone CEOs – who represent more than 230 companies that employ over 680,000 worldwide in sectors ranging from life sciences to e-commerce to digital infrastructure – were overwhelmingly focused on one question:

How can I set my company up for ongoing growth in the face of pressing economic and geopolitical changes?

The drastically different market conditions of the past three years have shown business leaders that long-term success means positioning their companies to thrive in all weather. They arrived in New York eager to share insights from this volatile time. Here’s what emerged from the conversation:

1️⃣ On AI, double down on your strengths – but get started right away.

CEOs know that they can't let the near-term challenge of managing liquidity and cash flow in a high-interest rate environment distract them from the long-term challenge of adopting artificial intelligence. Yet when polled on what factors held them back from doing so, a lack of clarity around what specific AI applications will become most impactful came in towards the top of the list for leaders at our conference. AI might feel like an abstract concept, but leaders can tackle it in a methodical and manageable way by starting with their strengths.

An example: One company knew that their customers expected an efficient shopping experience, so they created an e-commerce tool where, rather than searching for individual items, users could enter the task they were shopping for (such as hosting a party) and the model would make recommendations on what to buy. Your existing value proposition is a great jumping-off point – but the most important thing is to take the plunge. It’s tempting to spend months building out the perfect strategy, but by the time you’re finished, the technology will have evolved and the competitive landscape will have shifted. Every step you take – even imperfect ones – give you more information to iterate, refine and advance.

2️⃣ Plan – and practice – for all outcomes.

We gave leaders at the conference a prompt – “2024 will be the year of …” – and asked them to fill in the blank. Geopolitics emerged as the top theme. The ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and other sources of global uncertainty mean that the world could look very different in 2025 than it does today.

Leaders must not only plan for all these possible worlds, but actively rehearse for them. How would you tackle disruptions to your supply chain? Are you prepared to diversify your revenue stream? If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that having a business continuity plan on paper isn’t enough – you need to train relevant personnel so they can act nimbly and decisively to preserve growth no matter the circumstances.

3️⃣ Focus on one key factor in your control: talent.

The labor market, though improving, remains tight, leaving leaders struggling to fill open roles. Our CEOs know that having the best C-suite tapestry of talent, along with a great culture, is critical to weathering uncertainty and meeting the next moment.

Across their organizations, many Blackstone CEOs were also focused on tapping into new pools of talent, sometimes unaware that robust talent pools existed in their own local communities. Our Career Pathways program – which aims to accelerate growth at our companies by broadening their talent networks – gave them the tools they needed not only to fill open roles, but to support retention and professional growth. The more than 50 companies enrolled in the program have onboarded 8,500 new hires from historically untapped talent pools since 2020.

Today’s leaders must not only manage these complex challenges, but tackle them at a pace of change that is only accelerating. With 2024 well underway, we’re confident that agility – absorbing the shocks of change and emerging even stronger from them – will be the key to driving lasting growth.