What worries CEOs most in 2026? Constant global shocks

More than 2,000 vessels are stranded in the Persian Gulf, with between 20,000 and 30,000 mariners affected, and that, according to the CEO of one of the world's largest shipping services firms, is just one symptom of a deeper problem.

Across banking, energy, manufacturing and technology, the executives who spoke to CNBC at Converge Live Singapore last week reached a shared verdict: the era of episodic crises is over.

What worries CEOs most in 2026?

Companies that built their operations around predictable planning cycles are scrapping them. "We kind of threw our three-year and five-year plan out the window," one executive told CNBC. The replacement isn't a new plan; it's a posture.

"It's no longer 'just in time'; it's 'just in case'," said ewellery Group Pandora Managing Director for Asia Thomas Knudsen. Supply chains are being duplicated, inventory strategies rewritten, and logistics rerouted, often at sharply higher cost. Pandora, for instance, has increased its use of air freight over sea transport to stay nimble. "Ultimately, it will all be passed to the consumer," Knudsen said.

Almost every CEO CNBC spoke to flagged AI as both a growth driver and a structural risk. Investors warned that traditional SaaS businesses face particular pressure as AI agents replace per-seat software licensing.

"The product is becoming less of a moat," said early-stage VC firm Antler CEO Magnus Grimeland. "The people who cannot reinvent themselves will really, really struggle."

DBS CEO Tan Su Shan, who runs Southeast Asia's largest bank, framed the AI challenge around trust rather than capability. "Everybody has access to AI, everybody has tech, and everybody can get access to great talent," she said. The differentiator, she argued, is who consumers and institutions choose to believe. Her cyber team operates on a zero-trust basis: "Trust nothing, trust nobody."

Executives serving mass-market consumers reported that demand hasn't broken, but spending patterns are shifting. GoTo CEO Hans Patuwo said Indonesia's middle-income consumers are now willing to trade variety and speed for lower prices. GCash operator Martha Sazon rated ASEAN consumer resilience at seven out of ten, solid, but not immune. "They are really being very selective," she said.

DBS's Tan put it plainly: "If you are a manager, manage for maximum flexibility. Stress test, stress test, stress test." Whether business leaders can convince employees, customers and investors that they're prepared for the next shock before it arrives may be the defining management challenge of the decade.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also speaking at the event, identified what he sees as the deeper risk: "What keeps me up is the fact that so many people are being convinced that they don't matter anymore."