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After several years of stepping up their public profiles, CEOs have entered what a new study from Golin calls “The Cone of Retreat,” taking a pause to rethink their strategies in the wake of economic, political and social instability.
Golin’s CEO Impact Index, now its fourth edition, analyzed a group of CEOs from the top 250 companies on the Fortune 500 on such issues as employee engagement, thought leadership, media sentiment and industry influence.
What they found is a group of leaders who are making changes across the board in how they lead.
One of the biggest reasons for the wave of CEO retrenchment comes down to the policies and public image of another leader: President Trump. “While early days [of Trump 2.0] were greeted with optimism for a business-friendly administration, this soon gave way to public retreat.”
The study says that exposure to the Trump administration has been a key factor in an uptick of negative sentiment scores among survey respondents. CEOs have been addressing Trump administration policies in their public statements more than six times as often than was the case for Joe Biden during his administration.
What is getting left behind are such previously high-profile topics as sustainability/climate action and DEI.
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Also taking up a bigger share of CEOs’ public-facing efforts is artificial intelligence, particularly agentic AI and its impact on company workforces. According to the study, higher-ranking CEOs are working to pair up their investments in AI with such strategies as training, career support and human-AI collaboration models. Those engaging in reactive layoffs without such transformation initiatives are seeing their rankings fall.
A big factor behind the public retreat of CEOs lies in the instability of the position itself. In the first half of 2025, 27 Fortune 250 companies brought in new CEO. Those new CEOs, often under considerable pressure to turn a lagging company around, are having some trouble facing the hurdles that can impact their public reputation.
The study notes that the thought leadership scores of those new CEOs came in 12 percent lower than those for their more experienced counterparts. Recent CEO hires also lagged in their scores for employment engagement (15 percent lower) and events (43 percent lower).
“Today’s CEOs face immediate pressure to demonstrate tangible results,” the study says, “with boards, investors and stakeholders demanding evidence of strategic vision and operational competence sooner than ever before.”
How should CEOs handle these pressures and burnish their public reputations? The study points toward engagement and focus as key elements in those areas.
The study suggests that CEOs focus on “quality metrics over vanity metrics,” as well as engaging third-party advocates who can help them amplify their visions. It also recommends that leaders work closely with their government affairs and corporate affairs teams to help them avoid the kinds of risks that can do major damage to public reputations.
Golin’s CEO Impact Index took into account such factors as LinkedIn presence, business awards and rankings and trade media engagement in determining its scores.
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