Amid geopolitical uncertainty and the AI boom, executive leadership has had to become a much less insular affair.<\/p>\n
\n
Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson, speaking at the Fortune<\/em> Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Tuesday, said that as companies have had to become more nimble in their decision-making, it\u2019s no longer realistic for them to rely only on their respective leaderships to make tough calls and should instead rely on partnerships between, not just within, C-suites.<\/p>\n\u201cThis notion of the boardroom and the conference room that I grew up in\u2014we were rewarded for being right. We had to know our stuff. We had to be the best. We had to come in with a strong opinion. We had to have all the facts we had to master, and that is just not possible in today\u2019s market,\u201d Johnson told Fortune<\/em>\u2019s Diane Brady.<\/p>\nJohnson explained that instead, you have to \u201cbuild a machine\u201d for decision-making, which includes coming up with a hypothesis, but then looking at signals, as well as experts inside and outside a business to inform constant course-correction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting signals every day, and we\u2019re pivoting every day,\u201d she added. \u201cMy job is to get a grant and to allocate the capital accordingly, and you have to have a bench of partners that you can go to to deliver those outcomes.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
IBM has already begun to measure changes in how CEOs are interacting with one another. More than 80% of chief executives of AI-first companies are engaging partners from external or specialized networks to talk about risk and build off each other\u2019s strengths, according to its 2026 CEO Study. A large part of that shift comes from rapid changes in AI and how workplaces are adopting it, compressing decision-making cycles and forcing companies to break down previously established boundaries in search of cooperation, the report noted.<\/p>\n
More broadly, Boston Consulting Group similarly observed that as mergers and acquisitions slow, companies are instead looking for alliances, with 60% of surveyed business leaders saying that over the next three to five years, joint ventures and partnerships will be more important to growth than pursuing M&A.<\/p>\n
Lumen Technologies found one such partner in consultancy EY. In June 2025, EY U.S. and Blue Planet formed a strategic alliance to improve autonomous networking with AI, and Lumen was the project\u2019s first client.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s initial connection with EY CEO and Global Chair Janet Truncale was a spontaneous one. Johnson approached Truncale at a Business Roundtable breakfast a few years ago and in hopes of improving her day, Johnson said to Truncale, \u201cWill you be my best friend?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was happy to oblige,\u201d Truncale told Brady.<\/p>\n
The interaction shifted Truncale\u2019s own approach in meeting new leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last two years, I\u2019ve frankly tried to pay that forward,\u201d she said, \u201cso when there are new CEOs, I try to reach out and say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve just been through this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Lumen #CEO #era #CEO #partnerships #boards #longer #rewarded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amid geopolitical uncertainty … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3584,4491,283,1405,10035,1258,1416,10036,5109,10037],"class_list":["post-6909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-boards","tag-business-strategy","tag-ceo","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-collaboration","tag-era","tag-longer","tag-lumen","tag-partnerships","tag-rewarded"],"yoast_head":"\n
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