NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 — Deloitte and the Kellogg School of Management today announced the results of their inaugural Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Survey^[1]. The survey found that while a large majority of responding CSOs (70%) recognize the importance of generating disruptive growth, only 13% feel confident in their organization’s ability to do so. Moreover, CSOs report an insufficient understanding of the role that technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) plays in enabling new strategic possibilities. Only a small percentage of surveyed CSOs believe their organizations are capable of fully leveraging the potential of digital transformation/e-commerce (26%), analytics transformation (24%) and automation/robotics/AI (17%).

“The CSO survey revealed a critical disconnect between the requirements to win in a world of exponential change and what organizations are prepared to deliver,” said Bernardo Silva^[2], managing director and member of the strategic growth transformation leadership team, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “There is a huge opportunity for CSOs to act as a conduit in bridging this gap, while better defining their roles as architects and orchestrators of strategic actions across the enterprise.”

The “2020 CSO Study” — released in conjunction with Monitor Deloitte, the strategy practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University — polled CSOs and senior strategy executives in the U.S. and Western Europe. The goal of the survey is to better understand the role of today’s CSOs and how they can evolve to meet business challenges.

Understanding the CSO role
While most CSOs are highly experienced professionals, with 66% in the study reporting to have more than 15 years of professional experience, they are relatively new to corporate strategy. Seventy-four percent report being in corporate strategy for less than 10 years, and 41% less than five years. Sixty percent of senior strategy professionals are former management consultants.