The survey reveals a clear pattern: The competencies that CEOs brought into the role differ from those needed to succeed in it. As CEOs highlighted, performance and strong results were key factors when they took office. Looking forward, leadership effectiveness and a willingness to take risks in their decision-making will determine success in the role. This shift requires a move away from a static role profile toward a journey profile. The key is the ability to make confident decisions amid growing complexity as a central CEO competency of our time. In this context, traditional industry experience is losing importance. What counts are transferable leadership skills that help CEOs make an impact in diverse contexts.
Today, boards must rethink CEO appointments as the demands of the role are evolving faster than the selection criteria.
The data is clear: While performance and results still dominate the appointment process (76 percent from the board chair’s perspective), the focus for the future is shifting significantly toward decision-making ability and willingness to take risks (65 percent), relationship-building skills (63 percent), and attitude (46 percent). Chairs are therefore looking less at traditional career paths and more at the ability to prove oneself in complex situations when making future appointments.
Hier zeigt sich eine auffällige Lücke: CEOs bewerten Internationalität und funktionsübergreifende Erfahrungen mit 56 Prozent als zukunftsrelevant, Chairs nur mit 28 Prozent. Angesichts der zunehmenden geopolitischen Komplexität und der Notwendigkeit, globale Geschäftsmodelle zu navigieren, sollten Aufsichtsgremien diesen Faktor kritisch überprüfen.
To complement the survey, Egon Zehnder mapped the career paths of Germany’s 163 current DAX CEOs and co-CEOs to their current positions and examined their demographic backgrounds, educational histories, and changes in industry and company. The result is a concise profile of C-level leadership in Germany’s top companies.
Just under 70 percent of CEOs have general management experience. More than a third have experience in sales and marketing; just under 30 percent have expertise in finance. Forty-two percent had previously served as CEOs. Over 30 percent of all DAX CEOs come from outside the company. Forty-two percent have never changed industries—in other words, the average CEO does so only just under once in the course of their career. Changing companies, on the other hand, is common: Eighty-five percent have worked at more than one company; on average, CEOs change companies about two and a half times.
Forty-three percent of CEOs have spent their entire careers exclusively in Germany. Twenty-six percent have experience in other European countries, and 31 percent have worked outside Europe, for example in the U.S. or Asia. Younger CEOs (under 50) tend to have a more international background: Sixty-one percent have experience working outside Germany, compared to 56 percent of those over 50.
The educational background is predominantly academic: Eighty-eight percent of CEOs have a college degree, and an additional 10 percent have completed vocational training. In terms of subject matter, business administration and economics dominate at 56 percent. Engineering accounts for 28 percent, and natural sciences for 9 percent. At the same time, sectoral differences are evident—for example, a higher proportion of technical profiles in the industrial sector.
Fifty-two percent of CEOs have neither a Ph.D. nor an MBA. Twenty-eight percent hold a Ph.D., and 15 percent hold an MBA. Among younger CEOs (under 50), an MBA is more common than a Ph.D.; among those over 50, this ratio is reversed.
The desktop research reveals a very uniform profile: Ninety-six percent of CEOs are men; women account for 4 percent. The average age is 56.4 years. In terms of nationality, Germans (79 percent) and other European nationalities (17 percent) dominate.
Part I is based on a survey of 36 CEOs and 46 board chairs from companies listed on the DAX, MDAX, and SDAX (response rate: 25 percent). Part II contains analyses and food for thought based on the survey results. The data sheet is based on supple-mentary desktop research into the career paths of the 163 current DAX CEOs and co-CEOs (as of February 2026).
