The Boathouse Fifth Annual CEO Study
Perspectives from 150 U.S. CEOs on growth, execution, and how marketing, the CMO, and AI are evolving.
The 2026 Boathouse CEO Study uncovers a growing disconnect at the top: CEOs are increasingly confident in their strategy and influence, yet organizations are struggling to deliver against rising growth ambitions.
In our fifth year of research, the findings point to a shift in where the real challenge lies not in defining strategy, but in aligning the organization, talent, and operations required to execute it.
At the same time, marketing and the Chief Marketing Officer sit at the center of a new tension: greater trust and visibility, but declining confidence in their ability to drive enterprise growth. As AI accelerates both opportunity and scrutiny, expectations are rising faster than organizational readiness.
Download the 2026 report to access five years of benchmarking data and explore the critical inquiries facing today's C-suite.
Where Strategy Breaks Down?
This year’s findings go beyond perception shifts to expose how strategy actually moves, or stalls, inside organizations.
The data highlights a system under strain: rising expectations for growth, increasing reliance on AI, and mounting pressure on leadership teams to deliver results with structures that are not fully equipped to support them.
The result is a widening gap between what leaders believe the business can achieve and what the organization can consistently execute.
Explore the findings
Connect with our leadership team to unpack insights, methodology, and what they mean for your organization.
What are CEOs and their teams still trying to figure out?
If confidence in strategy is rising, what’s making consistent execution so difficult?
Who truly shapes strategy today and how are CEOs working with their leadership teams to deliver it?
How are CEOs evaluating marketing’s contribution to growth and where is it meeting or missing expectations?
How are CMOs being assessed across the most critical areas of their role today?
What role is AI expected to play in marketing and where is it already delivering measurable impact?
The full report unpacks the data behind these questions and what it will take to close the gap between ambition and execution.
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In the press
A growing collection of media coverage and press highlights featuring insights from the 5th CEO Study.
About the CEO Study
Launched in 2021, the CEO Study was created to better understand the declining perception of marketing and the shortening tenure of CMOs. Now in its fifth year, it tracks how CEO perspectives on marketing, strategy, growth, and AI are evolving over time, offering a longitudinal view of shifting expectations and pressures. The Fifth Annual CEO Study reflects insights from 150 CEOs at leading U.S. companies, surveyed between January 6 and January 26, 2026.