A survey of more than 1,100 board members and C-suite executives from global organizations paint a picture of the biggest risks today — and what are expected to become the biggest risks by 2034, and while some things never change (regulatory scrutiny made it into the top five for both today and tomorrow), technological advancements are expected to play a bigger risk role a decade from now.
| Top risks reported by global business leaders, 2024 vs. 2034 | |||
| 2024 | 2034 | ||
| 1 | Economic conditions, including inflationary pressures | 1 | Cyber threats |
| 2 | Ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, manage shifts in labor expectations, and address succession challenges | 2 | Ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, manage shifts in labor expectations, and address succession challenges |
| 3 | Cyber threats | 3 | Adoption of digital technologies requiring new skills in short supply |
| 4 | Third-party risks | 4 | Rapid speed of disruptive innovations enabled by new and emerging technologies and/or other market forces |
| 5 | Heightened regulatory changes and scrutiny | 5 | Heightened regulatory changes and scrutiny |
“The economy, inflation and cybersecurity clearly loom large on the executive risk agenda, but the best leaders realize that all these risks are intertwined and need to be addressed as a whole, not in parts,” said Matt Moore, global leader of risk and compliance at Protiviti, said in a news release. “C-suites and boards need to be nimble to address concerns on a variety of strategic and operational fronts and keep pace with the speed of change. Leaders are expected to manage multiple external risks effectively without disruptions to operations, productivity or profitability.”
Although not recorded as a top risk, geopolitical events had a significant ripple effect across the risk landscape. Before the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the survey found that no risk issues were rated at the “Significant Impact” level for 2024, but in the responses gathered following the attacks, many risks increased and four risk issues were rated at the “Significant Impact” level.
Looking out a decade, cybersecurity is the most pressing risk issue, with the risk rating for cyber threats increasing by more than 11% over last year’s survey — by far the largest risk rating increase noted in the survey’s history.
“While the economy is the top-ranked risk for the coming year, cyber threats jumped to the top of the list when leaders assessed both near- and long-term outlooks, after not being a top-five risk at all last year,” said Mark Beasley, professor of enterprise risk management, director of NC State’s ERM initiative and co-author of the report. “This jump reflects the growing recognition of the complex cyber risk landscape that is impacted by the exponential curve of technological advances and how seriously leaders are taking these threats.”
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