What Keeps CEOs Awake at Night?

The mastermind behind IBM's global CEO survey is nicknamed "the master of social glue" within the company. After flipping through the third iteration of the biannual report, it's easy to see why. The report (titled "The Enterprise of the Future") is tightly written and extremely sticky in the impression it leaves -- namely, the main topic that keeps more than 1,000 CEOs around the world awake at night: nightmares about failing to keep pace with change.

The 77-page report identifies, and analyzes, five major findings:
1) Companies are being "bombarded" with change and are struggling to adapt.
2) CEOs believe that increasingly demanding customers provide an opportunity to differentiate from competitors.
3) Companies are instituting significant changes to adapt to the changes confronting them.
4) Companies are rapidly globalizing by restructuring and entering into new partnerships.
5) Successful companies are taking bigger risks when it comes to innovation, designing their business, and partnering with other companies.

As these takeaways confirm, change and risk seem to burn brightest on CEO radars right now, which means that these issues should also light a fire under the CFOs who serve as the CEO's most important internal partner.