Putting a spotlight on leadership

Type “chief resilience officer” into any search engine and several headlines alluding to the “rise of the chief resilience officer” will likely pop up. But our analysis shows this may be premature or possibly inaccurate. While organizations are seeking VPs, directors, and managers of resilience, the demand for chief resilience officers is essentially nonexistent. In 2019, there were nine role postings for a chief resilience officer; that number only increased to 14 by 2022 at time when 175 VP roles were posted in the same period.

It’s plausible this may be due to more executive level roles not being publicly posted and instead left to the efforts of recruiters; however, if we contrast the chief resilience officer role to another emerging executive role like chief sustainability officer, we see a completely different story. In 2019, there were 115 chief sustainability roles posted. By 2022, that number increased 2.5 times to 286.

Without C-suite representation, resilience could be left without a voice at the executive table—removing an opportunity to share a consistent enterprise-wide vision. The Global resilience report, authored by Deloitte Global, highlights the impact of this leadership void, as only one-third of leaders describe resilience within their business as “a strategic priority with executive sponsorship and end-to-end capabilities.”⁷ Closely related, four out of five leaders in the report believe their organization should create a chief resilience officer role within the next five years.

Given the C-suite leadership void, organizations can consider the following actions to help ensure a clear and consistent vision for resilience:

• Get a jump on the leadership market. Some industries are getting a head start on building their resilience talent. While professional services initially led the charge, other industries like financial services, retail, and the public sector have recently increased their pursuit of resilience talent.⁸ And in terms of chief resilience officers, the public sector is establishing itself as an early mover (though still, a small number are being pursued). For instance, the state of Rhode Island recently opened a search for a chief resilience officer to design a “comprehensive climate-preparedness strategy.”⁹ Given the relatively small job market for chief resilience officers at the moment, there may be no better time to seek executive level leadership for resilience—especially as organizations look to balance reactionary measures with more growth-oriented initiatives.

• Create consensus on growth-oriented KPIs. Resilience is often more difficult to measure than something like a sales team hitting its targets. When it comes to prevention and preparing for uncertainty, it can be difficult to quantify how an intervention prevented a potential event from happening (or not happening). And when resilience KPIs do exist, they are usually focused on more reactive metrics for financial (for example, cash flow during crisis) and operational (for example, supplier health) performance.¹⁰ Despite these issues, executives could still have an opportunity to establish more proactive resilience metrics, although it may mean coming to consensus on where the organization can benefit most from building more resilient growth. For instance, is a shift from lean manufacturing to a more diversified field of suppliers necessary? Should the organization expand into new markets to ensure a more resilient consumer base? One chief digital officer for a consumer package goods company in France explains how resilience metrics can act as an innovation catalyst that demonstrates how effectively the organization is meeting new market needs:¹¹ “How fast the company can innovate is easy to measure. You look at the share of growth coming from new products and new service launches. If that KPI is high—or it’s growing—that’s a good sign.”

These actions can reinforce one another as well. Organizations with a chief resilience officer can lean on that individual’s expertise to work with the business strategy to identify the most appropriate growth KPIs. And alternatively, if the organization doesn’t have a chief resilience officer, KPIs can help fill the void by ensuring the entire organization is working towards the same resilience objectives.

Widening the aperture on resilience strategy

Though not the most frequently cited skills and backgrounds, we also explored which areas are gaining momentum (for example, skills that may not have risen to the top 10 but have experienced growth in demand over the last four years). Unlike the rapid evolution of director roles, managers and VPs seem to be experiencing more subtle changes in skills, specifically in terms of experience with sustainability and supply chains.

For managers, backgrounds in energy and environmental solutions are becoming a key focus area for resilience talent. Figure 5 shows backgrounds in environmental work, energy solutions, energy management, and energy efficiency rising through the ranks—perhaps offering an early signal where the role will focus in the future.