We teamed up with Google to identify the leadership qualities needed to fuel revenue-generating digital transformations.

Companies that are leaders in the digital space are differentiated by their ability to deliver against ever-shifting consumer demands with sophisticated, personalised experiences that other brands cannot. But they weren’t born into this level of higher maturity; they navigated the rough waters of the shifting market more effectively than their competitors, acquiring new knowledge, better practices, and greater efficiencies along the way. Indeed, “Digitally Leading companies” report having a culture that supports change 20% more often than “Digitally Emerging companies,” or those that are in the transformation process.

Building an organisation for tomorrow requires leaders who can guide their teams to success through journeys of transformation. The ability to respond to change while undergoing change and still drive business growth requires a new type of leadership. Practicing this leadership is, perhaps, the biggest barrier to growth for many companies today. Google and Kantar partnered over the summer of 2021 to explore what today’s leading companies do differently to drive revenue growth and digital transformation success.

To better understand the priorities and challenges of C-suite leaders, we spoke to 40 C-suite leaders from companies across the U.S., hearing what elements of leadership tend to drive growth, especially through transformation. A key theme that emerged was the intense need for leadership to go beyond accountability for driving vertical performance and instead, lean into collaboration and mutual learning across functions. In essence, moving from championing “type A” leaders to an “A-Team” C-suite.