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Inside
the CEO

Conversations with CEOs and C-level leaders about how they think, make decisions and build companies.

SAMPLE ISSUE 01
Sample conversation · Strategy

How to think when the old rules no longer work.

Sample interview
Illustrative editorial formatExplore the interview ↗

Conversations worth returning to.

All · Strategy · Leadership · Growth
02 · LEADERSHIP
Inside the CEO

The decision a CEO cannot delegate.

Coming soon · 12 min read
03 · GROWTH
Inside the CEO

What changes after the first hundred people.

Coming soon · 9 min read
04 · CULTURE
Inside the CEO

How culture keeps pace with the business.

Coming soon · 14 min read
The editorial selection

CEO Radar.

Open a story to read more
Forbes

Board-level AI strategy: closing the gap between ambition and execution

Why it mattersThis article examines the gap between board approval of an AI strategy and the understanding and support needed to execute it. It helps CEOs assess readiness, accountability and realistic expectations.
Original sourceForbesLeadership and the C-suite
Leadership and the C-suite23 September 2026 · 7 min read

Board-level AI strategy: closing the gap between ambition and execution

The article reports that in 2025, 83% of S&P 500 companies recognised AI as a material risk, while fewer than 3% of board members had AI expertise. The resulting execution gap appears in accountability structures, expectations of progress and the board’s actual mandate.

Key points
  • Unclear accountability for AI outcomes often leaves developers carrying responsibility that belongs with senior leadership.
  • Pressure to overstate AI progress creates a cycle of unrealistic expectations and decisions based on inflated information.
  • Boards need to understand the organisational changes, roles and processes required to deliver an AI strategy.
  • Leadership must create the conditions for implementation, giving teams support and clear direction alongside strategy approval.
Conclusion

CEOs should ensure that boards and senior leaders understand the organisational structure, accountability and culture required to deliver the AI plans they approve.

Read the original · Forbes
KPMG

KPMG creates a group to build AI-led businesses: lessons for corporate innovation

Why it mattersThis example offers CEOs practical insight into organising AI innovation and keeping large companies agile and competitive.
Original sourceKPMGAI and transformation
AI and transformation22 September 2026 · 4 min read

KPMG creates a group to build AI-led businesses: lessons for corporate innovation

KPMG LLP announced a Client Technology & Innovation group to build AI-led businesses and scale new products quickly. The move highlights the need to think differently and make bolder innovation investments as technology changes rapidly.

Key points
  • The CT&I group will work like a startup to experiment and move faster while protecting the core business.
  • Each business at the edge will have a mandate to build and scale, with possible outcomes including reintegration into the core business.
  • KPMG argues that the pace of change requires different thinking and faster, larger AI investments.
  • The group brings together alliance partners, startup investments and venture-capital relationships.
  • Its aim is to accelerate new business development and co-create products with clients.
Conclusion

CEOs can consider innovation at the edge and internal startups to accelerate AI-led development, balancing agility with the needs of the core business and engaging external partners.

Read the original · KPMG
Brookings Institution

Why AI is contentious: the moral and social challenges for business

Why it mattersThe article explores the reasons for public opposition to AI beyond economic and existential concerns. Its focus on data used without consent matters for leaders building ethical, sustainable AI strategies.
Original sourceBrookings InstitutionPeople and culture
People and culture24 September 2026 · 5 min read

Why AI is contentious: the moral and social challenges for business

Despite its economic potential, AI provokes considerable public concern. Research suggests that this reflects not only fears about job losses, but also moral objections to using people’s data, work and experiences without their consent.

Key points
  • Many people object to AI because it was built using people’s words, creative work and experiences without consent.
  • Around half of US adults are more concerned than excited about the growing use of AI in everyday life.
  • Policies focused only on economics, such as universal basic income or retraining, remain incomplete without addressing moral concerns.
  • Addressing these objections requires restoring a degree of ownership and attribution to the people whose work contributed to AI.
  • AI affects identity as well as job security when it appropriates aspects of people’s lives for training.
Conclusion

Responsible AI adoption requires leaders to consider more than technology and economics. Addressing moral questions about data use and human identity is central to trust and lasting public acceptance.

Read the original · Brookings Institution
CEPR · VoxEU

Before looking outside for talent, companies need to see the talent within.

Why it mattersInformation about employees’ capabilities becomes a management asset when leaders beyond the current team can use it.
Original sourceCEPR · VoxEUPeople and culture
People and culture22 September 2026 · 1 min read

Before looking outside for talent, companies need to see the talent within.

In a CEPR article published on 22 September, researchers analyse Finnish company data: more productive firms fill vacancies internally more often, through both promotions and lateral moves.

Key points
  • Among higher-level professionals, the productivity association appears mainly through lateral moves; at lower levels, through promotions.
  • The authors suggest that more productive companies may be better at recognising how internal candidates fit new roles.
  • The study does not establish that better talent assessment causes this relationship: direct evidence about management practices is limited.
  • External hiring remains necessary when new knowledge is needed or a stronger candidate works elsewhere.
Conclusion

Editorial takeaway: internal mobility is a system for sharing information about people as well as a career benefit. Review the internal talent pool before opening a vacancy.

Read the original · CEPR · VoxEU

English editorial summaries. Every source link leads to the original publication.

All stories

The themes shaping the CEO’s agenda.

Six areas where leaders need to understand context and consequences.

01

AI and transformation

From pilots and automation to a new operating model.

02

Strategy and growth

Markets, priorities, scale and new sources of performance.

03

Leadership and the C-suite

Roles, accountability and the quality of team decisions.

04

Management systems

Rhythms, metrics and mechanisms that make a business manageable.

05

People and culture

Organisational design, change and an environment for performance.

06

Markets and risks

Signals that could change an owner’s decisions this quarter.

Deep reads.
The essentials, in focus.

Complex research and long reads in a format you can read between meetings.

HBR · Briefing5 min

What really prevents a strong team from scaling.

Three key points, one counterargument and a question to put to your C-level team.

Coming soon
MIT SMR · Briefing4 min

Where automation ends and transformation begins.

How to distinguish local time savings from a change in the business model and management system.

Coming soon
Research · Data6 min

Five numbers that change the productivity discussion.

Every number comes with a management implication and the limits of its application.

Coming soon
Practice · Coming soon

CEO
Playbooks.

01An agenda for a C-level strategy meetingTemplate · 2 pages
02Five questions before launching an AI initiativeChecklist
03Separating the roles of owner, CEO and advisory boardFramework
04A weekly business review without forty slidesPractice · 15 min
Our editorial principle
Beyond the title.
Into what happens inside.
01Decisions that changed a company’s trajectory.
02Doubts that never make it into a press release.
03Personal principles of leadership and accountability.