Businesses will have to work harder to understand what their customer data really means for their company, according to a new report on business leade...

We discovered during our research that most people felt that the leadership challenges facing CEOs today were new. There has been a great deal of change in: the role, environment; creative people leadership and external focus.

CEOs must be aware of more dynamic communication methods. If they know that 90% of their employees use social networks to communicate, find out news and keep up to date with business developments, then they must be seen to engage on this level too.

So what makes a successful CEO stand out? The role of a CEO would be to develop a vision, strategy and financial goals for the business but evidence suggests that strong people leadership is the differentiator.

The biggest problem facing large organisations today is not a lack of desire to change but a lack of know-how. It stems from a fundamental leadership issue: the wrong types of people have been left in charge.

When talking with CEO's I'm constantly bemused about the lack of urgency in making key business decisions. They appear so laid back in saying 'yes' or 'no' preferring to sit on the fence with 'don't know' whilst the world, and opportunity, passes them by. In a crisis economy, which is here to stay for some time, why is this and what is the cost?