87% of CEOs Now Rank Business Alliances as Their Most Vital External Asset

Business alliances outrank every other external relationship for today's CEOs, with 87% calling them the most important — ahead of political connections, informal networks, and public-private partnerships alike. That's the headline finding from executive search firm Egon Zehnder, which surveyed 843 CEOs globally in a report published in October on the challenges corporate leaders face and how they're adapting.

The ranking is telling. Informal CEO networks came in second at 47%, while public-private partnerships trailed at 32%. Nearly half of the CEOs who prioritized business alliances said those relationships had become more important over the past year. In other words, this isn't a stable preference — it's a trend with momentum.

Why the shift? Geopolitical instability, technological disruption, and economic uncertainty are pushing chief executives to seek advice and opportunities from one another more frequently. The report frames the personal network itself as an increasingly valuable business asset.

What do peer networks actually deliver?

For practitioners, the mechanics matter more than the headline. Informal CEO networks give executives access to peers confronting similar problems, often across industries and geographies. Three functions stand out from the findings:

• Early intelligence on shifting markets before it reaches consultants or analysts
• Collaboration opportunities that don't require formal deal structures
• A trusted space to share sensitive information, air concerns, and discuss challenges a CEO might hesitate to raise inside their own company — or outside a close peer circle

The testing function may be the most underrated. A chief executive weighing an AI investment, a supply chain restructuring, or expansion into a politically sensitive market can draw on peers who've already made comparable calls. The report notes the value lies partly in speed: trusted relationships surface practical information and help executives evaluate risks faster than formal channels.

The pressures driving CEOs together

The networking push isn't happening in a vacuum. According to the survey, 62% of CEOs anticipate greater geopolitical disruption over the next 12 months. AI adoption and its implications top the list of challenges facing their organizations. And those pressures are already translating into action — 30% of respondents say they're forming new strategic alliances and partnerships.

Think about that ratio: nearly one in three CEOs is actively building new partnerships right now, largely because the operating environment has become unpredictable enough to demand it.

The personal cost of leading through uncertainty

The findings also quantify something boards and investors rarely see. Some 82% of CEOs said the current environment requires greater leadership endurance than they had previously imagined. Another 85% believe future success depends on strengthening both personal resilience and traditional business capabilities — not one or the other.

That's a striking admission from a population not known for public vulnerability. More than four in five chief executives are essentially conceding the job has gotten harder than they expected.

What does this change for executives and the people around them?

For CEOs, the practical takeaway is that peer networks are now infrastructure, not a luxury. A trusted circle can offer perspective, support, and experience that even seasoned leaders struggle to find within their own organizations — where honest signal often gets filtered before it reaches the top floor.

For boards, executive teams, and search firms, the implication cuts differently. If endurance and resilience are now baseline requirements, succession planning and leadership development need to account for them explicitly. And if alliances are the top external relationship for 87% of CEOs, expect deal-making, joint ventures, and informal executive communities to keep expanding as geopolitical and AI-driven disruption plays out over the next 12 months.

The message from Egon Zehnder's 843 respondents is consistent: building endurance for an unpredictable era doesn't have to be a solitary exercise. The CEOs who treat their inner circles as a strategic asset — and invest in them accordingly — are the ones positioning themselves ahead of the disruption, not reacting to it.