Lumen CEO Says Uncertainty Makes Executive Partnerships More Important

Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson urged executives to build wider networks of advisers as rapid change makes it harder for any leadership team to have every fact before making decisions.

At a leadership event in California, Johnson described a boardroom culture that once rewarded leaders for being right and knowing the details. “We had to have all the facts we had to master, and that is just not possible in today’s market,” she said.

Her proposed decision process starts with a hypothesis, then weighs new signals and draws on expertise from inside and outside the company. Johnson said she receives signals daily and that her team adjusts its direction in response. The pace of artificial intelligence adoption and geopolitical uncertainty has made those broader relationships more important to business leaders.

More than 80% of chief executives at AI-first companies engage outside or specialist networks to discuss risk and combine expertise. Sixty percent of business leaders expect joint ventures and partnerships to matter more for growth than mergers and acquisitions over the next three to five years.

One example is an alliance EY U.S. and Blue Planet formed in June 2025 to improve autonomous networking with AI. Lumen was the project’s first client.

Johnson’s connection with EY CEO and Global Chair Janet Truncale began at a Business Roundtable breakfast several years ago. Johnson approached Truncale and asked, “Will you be my best friend?” Truncale agreed. She said she has since made a point of reaching out to new CEOs to share what she learned from her own experience.