Issues in the U.S.

• According to The Conference Board 2019 survey of 800 CEOs in the U.S., their biggest internal concerns in 2019 were "attracting and retaining top talent", the ability to successfully innovate their business model, and developing next-generation leaders.
• Externally, they were concerned about trade and politics.
• CEOs in the U.S. must be able to motivate their staff, exercise financial discipline, and remain competitive. However, they are experiencing a shortage in advisory because "consulting firms, banks, academic institutions, research companies and other entities...seem to gravitate to the very small and very large companies."
• Some skills mid-market CEOs are required to have include developing talent quickly, mentoring management team members, and "[s]hifting from a command-and-control style to a team leadership style." CEOs of mid-market companies need to be flexible to remain competitive and motivate their staff accordingly.

Issues in the U.K.

• In the UK in 2018, 39% of SMEs are concerned about the impact that leaving the EU will have on them in 2019.
• Some SMEs were concerned about the cost to adopt new technology to remain competitive in their respective markets.
• They were also considering to make changes relating to their banking to "to secure better interest rates and fee tariffs."
• Only 25% of SMEs believed they had affordable housing in their region for critical business infrastructure to help " new staff to feel at home."
•  41% of SMEs are concerned about finding the right talent in Yorkshire & Humber because they were struggling with this.

Summary

• In our background research, we identified some of the biggest challenges that mid-market company leaders and executives in the U.S. and Europe are facing. We also recognized that publicly available information for the U.S. is more when compared with Europe.