INA FAST-CHANGING world profoundly transformed by the pandemic and the blistering advance of technology, a world in which the past offers ever less guidance, the CEO’s job is being reconceived.
For the star CEOs of the 21st century, success will depend heavily on their ability to confront a pair of almost contradictory requirements: They must plumb their deepest humanity, and they must foresee technology’s greatest opportunities and threats. Mastering either challenge is diffcult. Mastering both is extraordinary—but then, that’s what CEOs are supposed to be.
“What matters for the role now is more about the intrinsics, the intangibles, and less about specific experience,” says Cathy Anterasian, a CEO succession expert at the Spencer Stuart leadership consulting firm. Indeed, Anterasian cites the firm’s research showing that high-potential first-time CEOs who “don’t have that baggage” tend to outperform those with many years of experience, delivering higher market-adjusted total shareholder return and lower volatility. Alan Johnson, a compensation consultant, agrees: “If you’ve got 30 years of experience, probably the first 20 are not relevant anymore.”
Who will take the reins in this new landscape? With the help of executive search veterans and industry experts (who asked not to be named so as not to show favoritism), Fortune has identified 11 CEO stars in the making—many of them already in the C-suite, and all potential large-company CEOs. They range in age from 33 to 56, and each was identified by one or more experts who see a generational standout leader in the making.
Because executives develop in different ways, we’ve created categories
