Strategic change and transformation feature more prominently among the challenges reported by European executives than in a global comparison group, according to research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).
The analysis draws on responses from 1,741 European leaders and 15,468 leaders outside Europe. CCL’s report was published on 23 September 2026 and promoted in a new release on 6 October; the release does not specify the data collection dates.
Change and competing priorities
Strategic change and transformation accounted for 25% of reported European executive challenges, compared with 22% in the global benchmark. A shifting business environment represented 27%, compared with 23%.
These percentages describe the reported challenges in the analysis, rather than the proportion of all European executives experiencing a problem. CCL argues that regulation, economic uncertainty, geopolitics and rapid technological development are interacting to make coordination more difficult.
“Leaders are having to decide what matters most, where to invest and how to keep their organisations moving forward together.”
Elisa Mallis, global VP, research, innovation and new content creation, CCL
Three priorities for leadership development
The report identifies three capabilities: coordinating competing priorities, making deliberate choices about innovation and AI, and transferring experienced leaders’ judgement and knowledge to others.
Irina Gribanova, CCL’s Europe director, said organisations needed leaders who could make clear choices, maintain alignment through change and ensure critical knowledge was passed on before it was lost.
Why it matters for HR
The findings suggest leadership development should connect to the decisions teams face in practice. HR can examine whether leaders have clear decision-making responsibilities, space to agree priorities across functions and a structured way to develop successors.
Source: CCL’s European leadership report and accompanying press release. Image: Elisa Mallis, supplied by CCL.
