Harvard business review best performing ceos năm 2024

San Francisco : Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, Mastercard's Ajay Banga and Microsoft's Satya Nadella are among the top 10 best-performing chief executives in the world, according to a Harvard Business Review (HBR) list.

While Narayen ranks 6th in the list of best-performing 100 CEOs, Banga has been placed at 7th position and Nadella at 9th.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang tops the 2019 edition of the list.

"From late 2015 to late 2018, the company's stock grew 14-fold - a performance that puts Huang, 56, in the top spot on HBR's list of best-performing CEOs in the world this year," the magazine said.

The HBR list relies on objective performance measures over a chief executive's entire tenure.

The CEO are now ranked not only on financial performance but also on environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings.

"For the past four years we've weighted ESG scores to account for 20 per cent of each CEO's final ranking. This year we tweaked the formula, increasing that share to 30 per cent," HBR added.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos failed to make this year's list owing to the company's relatively low ESG scores. On the basis of financial performance alone, Bezos has been the top CEO every year from 2014 to 2018.

Four female CEOs made the ranking (all are in the top half), up from three in 2018 and just two in prior years.

Some of the longest-serving CEOs like Warren Buffett – whose tenure with Berkshire Hathaway spans almost 52 years – have remained in their roles for an average of 33 years. A handful of these CEOs are also recognised as some of the most influential leaders.

In the financial sector, where duration is linked to greater stock returns, CEOs generally remain in their roles for longer. However, does the same hold true for other sectors? And when are the best value-creating years for a CEO?

One of the difficulties in determining this is that no journey is ever straightforward. Performance can fluctuate over time, making it even harder for boards to determine at what point it’s necessary for a leader to step back.

Research undertaken by consulting firm Spencer Stuart and published in Harvard Business Review suggests that some of the most fruitful years for CEOs is between 10–15 years, otherwise known as the Golden Years.

This was a key finding in Brand Finance’s ‘Brand Guardianship Index 2022’, where the average duration for the top 10 CEOs was 15.9 years.

The recent report reflects the work of more than 1,000 market analysts and journalists, who analysed the abilities of CEOs to build sustainable business value and their performance during their tenure. The Index lists the top 250 leaders, where the average duration is 7.6 years – half that of the top 10 cohort.

Why longevity matters

A ‘collaborative diplomat’ is a term that describes the purpose of a CEO as someone who balances the needs of multiple parties: stakeholders, employees, investors and greater society.

David Haigh, CEO and Chair at UK-based Brand Finance, explains how the CEO is ultimately responsible for “creating consensus and winning hearts and minds to achieve the impossible”.

And while CEOs who have plenty of industry experience in various roles may contribute a lot of value, it doesn’t always mean they’ll be accepted by the organisation.

“CEOs that have moved within an industry can bring lots of relevant experience and ideas, but need to be particularly careful to win hearts and minds,” Haigh says. “Footballers that play for Manchester United one day and Chelsea or Spurs the next are sometimes rejected by the other players and the fans. So they have to be particularly adept at ‘collaborative diplomacy’.”

In contrast, a CEO who has moved up the ranks or has founded the business is often in a better position to lead, as they are intimately familiar with the inner workings of the organisation and the relationships with stakeholders.

“Many CEOs worked for many years or even decades within the business before being elevated to the CEO role,” Haigh explains.

This was true for all top 10 CEOs in the Index.

“To be able to build long-term business value, you need to balance the needs of different stakeholders. It is clear, from our Index, that that takes time,” asserts Annie Brown, Associate at Brand Finance.

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella was named the world’s top CEO. When asked what qualities could be attributed to his success, Haigh points out that he is “well liked, modest and has a relatively low profile, but has executed a clear and different strategy without losing his audience in the company”.

Who is the best performing CEO of Harvard Business Review?

Taiwanese-American CEO Jensen Huang, who co-founded and heads graphics processor company Nvidia, was crowned the best-performing CEO by the most recent 2019 Harvard Business Review CEO ranking.

Which CEO has the highest approval rating?

By far, the most popular CEO right now (according to Blind's respondents anyway) is Nvidia's Jensen Huang, with an astonishing 96% approval rating. Huang's numbers point to a theme in the data. Blind notes that there is a correlation between company stock performance and CEO approval rating.

Who is considered the best CEO?

Best CEOs In The World Of 2023.

Who is the most powerful CEO in the world?

Revealed: Best CEOs In The World, 2024.