Zurich, Switzerland––September 17, 2025–– Egon Zehnder, the world’s premier leadership advisory firm, today announced its 2025 Technology Leaders survey, finding that tech executives are stepping out of purely technical roles and into the strategic spotlight. In fact, a majority note that they spend the bulk of their time advancing technical improvements and innovations, evangelizing, implementing, and ensuring the adopting of new technology/AI initiatives, shaping business strategy through technology, and driving cost and operational efficiency.
The study, based on insights from over 150 global technology leaders, uncovers a bold new mandate for CTOs and CIOs – driving enterprise-wide innovation, championing AI integration and leading cultural transformation from within.
“Tech leaders now stand at the helm of enterprise-wide transformation, seamlessly integrating digital advancements and fostering a culture of innovation,” said Sven Michaelis, Global Co-Leader of Egon Zehnder’s Technology Officers Practice. “Their vision is pivotal as companies navigate today’s complex, disruptive business landscape.”
Despite rapid advances in AI and cloud technologies, leaders identified human-centric barriers as the most formidable to transformation. The respondents cited organizational silos and coordination breakdowns as the top obstacles, followed closely by insufficient internal talent and skills development infrastructure. In addition, 50% of respondents highlighted culture transformation as the most critical leadership competency to strengthen, followed by stakeholder management and innovation.
AI has emerged as a defining force in this new era of leadership, yet only 12% have fully integrated AI into operations. The majority are still piloting and scaling use cases, highlighting a gap between ambition and investment. This is further amplified by the fact that 83% of organizations allocate less than 10% of their total budget to AI and GenAI initiatives. This resource gap forces leaders to optimize innovation with fiscal discipline which often includes partnering across departments to creatively stretch their impact.
“Tech leaders aren’t just solving problems—they’re creating possibilities,” said Joon Yoon, Global Co-Leader of Egon Zehnder’s Technology Officers Practice. “Continuous learning, bold mindset shifts, and real influence are what drive lasting transformation in the AI era.”
Ultimately, the report calls for higher levels of cooperative leadership across the C-Suite. As technological transformation becomes an enterprise mandate, the burden, and opportunity, must be shared among CEOs, CHROs, CFOs, and technology leaders alike. Real transformation will depend not just on tools and infrastructure, but on reimagining organizational culture, talent strategy, and leadership itself.
About Egon Zehnder
Egon Zehnder is the world’s preeminent leadership advisory firm, inspiring leaders to navigate complex questions with human answers. We help organizations get to the heart of their leadership challenges and offer honest feedback and insights to help leaders realize their true being and purpose.
We are built on a foundation that supports partnership in the truest sense of the word and aligns our interests with the interests of our clients. Our 600 consultants across 67 offices and 36 countries are former industry and functional leaders who collaborate seamlessly to deliver the full power of the Firm to every client, every time. We believe that together we can transform people, organizations and the world through leadership.
Media Contacts
Martin Klusmann, Berlin, martin.klusmann@egonzehnder.com
Jill Cockerham, Washington, D.C., jill.cockerham@egonzehnder.com
Luisa Bond, São Paulo, luisa.zottis@egonzehnder.com
