My colleague Carol Eversen, CMO of Chief Outsiders, recently polled more than 170 CEOs of mid-sized companies about their expectations and strategies for a market comeback from the COVID-19 lockdown. Most CEOs see economic conditions improving in December 2020 or later.  Click here to find a copy of the report. 

Summary of Findings

CEOs' perspective on the timing of economic recovery vary greatly; Many say conditions are expected to begin to improve in 5 months or less (43%), but most (57%) believe it will be 6 months or more.

Almost no one sees their businesses “significantly weakened” by the COVID-19 crisis looking out 6 months, and most CEOs expect to be “normal” or “stronger than before” in this timeframe.

With modest to high-growth goals coming into the 2020 pre-pandemic, 2/3 of CEOs don't expect to meet their growth targets for the year. But that means another 1/3 expect to hit their targets or exceed them.

CEOs recognize the need for COVID-19 trends to diminish, but overwhelmingly (64%) view their organizations' ability to execute their recovery plans as critical to meet revised 2020 goals. Key company growth strategies include some combination of targeting new customers and markets, deploying new offerings, and ramping up digital marketing capabilities.

The CEOs' advice to their peers largely around staying focused, keeping the course, paying attention to company culture, and not giving up. “We'll all get through this”.