Insights From 112 Senior Executives on Geopolitics and Leadership

The Rehearsal Gap: Insights From 112 Senior Executives on Geopolitics and Leadership

September 2026

Summary:

Stanton Chase’s Executive Survey Panel surveyed 112 senior leaders across four regions and nine industries and found that 77% of organizations were taken by surprise by a geopolitical event in the past year, 49% of leadership teams changed a decision that had already been approved because of geopolitical uncertainty, and 55% have never run a structured geopolitical stress test. On the talent side, cost discipline (51%) tops the list of capabilities growing in importance while cross-border leadership comes last (19%), and 18% of organizations now favor local leaders over relocating executives across borders when hiring senior leaders. The full report includes cross-tabulated findings and a six-move action plan for leadership teams.

112 senior leaders across four regions and nine industries told us how geopolitical uncertainty is changing executive decisions.

What follows is a preview, not the report. The full findings are in a free PDF, which you can download on the right of this page.

112Senior leaders surveyed	9Industries
4Regions	6Moves in the action plan

The Headline Findings

Caught off guard: 77% of organizations were taken by surprise by a geopolitical event in the past year.

Approval is not final: 49% of leadership teams delayed, revisited, or reversed a decision that had already been approved because of geopolitical uncertainty.

The rehearsal gap: 55% of leadership teams have never run a structured geopolitical stress test with their leadership team.

Capabilities in demand: 51% versus 19%. Cost discipline tops the list of capabilities growing in importance, while cross-border leadership comes last.

Download the full survey report, The Rehearsal Gap: Findings from the Geopolitics and Leadership Executive Pulse Survey.

What the full report covers

These are just the headlines. The full PDF covers every finding in detail, with cross-tabulations that show how prepared teams respond faster and a six-move action plan your leadership team can put to work straight away. The report also examines several findings you will not see on this page, including:

Why predicting the knock-on effects of a geopolitical event worries executives more than the event itself
What separates the leadership teams that changed decisions from the teams that held firm
How being caught off guard once changes what leadership teams prioritize afterwards
How recently most leadership teams practiced their response to a geopolitical scenario, if they ever have
Whether geopolitical risk is changing where companies base their senior leaders and who they hire for those roles
Which parts of the business feel geopolitical pressure first, from pricing to supply chains

About the Stanton Chase Executive Survey Panel

The Executive Survey Panel is a quarterly research initiative from Stanton Chase. Each quarter, we survey senior executives and board members across our global network on the forces changing their roles and organizations. The Q2 executive pulse survey on geopolitics and leadership was conducted between June and July 2026, receiving 112 responses across nine industries and four regions.

Our previous Executive Survey Panel report explored artificial intelligence at the top table, and you can read AI in the C-Suite on our website.

Download the Full Report

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