A CEO takes on a new role: What are his or her first decisions typically?

What is the most important decision any CEO makes, and how can science help you get it right?

The following contribution is from the MU Reliable Leadership Advice portal, which defines itself as follows: Since 1967, our goal has been to help executives become more successful and achieve the best results for their organizations. MU’s strength remains our advisory capabilities and our unique expertise in finding, selecting, and developing the right professionals and managers to meet our clients’ needs.

How can we ensure we have the right people to achieve the best possible results?

Today, MU is a leading global executive search, professional search, and talent advisory company. From being a small, local company, we have grown organically with our clients to become an international company with teams around the world, and we are there wherever our clients need us.

 

 

The Successful CEO

By Sofia Hjort Lönegård, Richard Moore, Christian Nyhlen

It is often said that successful CEOs possess certain traits and behave in certain ways.

However, these claims don’t hold up in practice. In the real world, each CEO succeeds, or fails, in a unique context. Therefore, there can be no general traits that lead to their success.

In our series «The Successful CEO,» Christian Nyhlen, CEO of Krinova Incubator & Science Park, and Richard Moore, CEO of MU, analyze how you, as a CEO, can ensure success, starting with the most important decision of all.

«The Successful CEO» Series

Almost half of new CEO appointments fail. To get practical tips for success as a CEO, Sofia Hjort Lönegård, Director of Communications at MU, interviews Christian Nyhlen, CEO of Krinova Incubator & Science Park, and Richard Moore, CEO of MU.

In addition to being CEOs themselves, Christian and Richard have spent decades working with CEOs of high-growth startups and global leaders from the public and private sectors. They’ve found that by applying science to workplace performance, more CEOs achieve success.

 

 

What is the most important decision any CEO must make?

As a CEO, the decisions you make are numerous and far-reaching. Many of them have a major impact on other people and your organization’s results. However, there is one decision that is more important than all the others.

While the Board of Directors is formally responsible for appointing a new CEO, it is the CEO who decides whether or not to accept the position.

This is the most important decision you will make as a CEO, and to be successful, you must get it right.

Alarmingly, nearly half of new CEOs make this decision wrong and don’t last longer than 18 months.

Widely cited research indicates that nearly half of new CEOs don’t last longer than 18 months, and the costs of replacing them are exorbitant (AESC ‘Minimizing Risk’, accessed 2021, paragraph 1).

 

As Christian says, summarizing the scientific research and his own practical experience:

«Whatever organization you take on the challenge of being CEO, congratulations on your new appointment. The bad news is that there’s only a 50% chance your appointment will be successful, so it’s very likely you won’t be in the position in 18 months. It’s practically a toss-up.»

The good news is, Christian continues:

«Despite the alarming frequency of failed CEO appointments, with all the damage this causes to you as a CEO and the organization you serve, there are concrete steps you can take to dramatically increase the likelihood of success.»

To make this decision correctly, you need to understand it for what it is, Christian comments: «Deciding to take on a CEO role involves getting a very important and difficult prediction right: determining whether you are the best fit for the organization. Instead of selling your credentials, analyze the situation and yourself. Start with what needs to be accomplished.»

 

What does a successful CEO need to achieve?

Richard comments that CEOs must succeed in multiple dimensions:

«A newly appointed CEO must succeed in three dimensions.

First, they must deliver results.

Second, they must positively impact the culture: the collective values, beliefs, and principles of the organization’s leaders and colleagues.

Only by delivering results and making an effective contribution to the organization does a new CEO create the opportunity to succeed in the third dimension: developing themselves, their team, and their leaders for the long term.»

Although every CEO role is unique, these three dimensions are always present: short-term results; impact on culture; and long-term development of the person, the team, and leaders. Christian adds:

«To overcome adversity and succeed as a CEO, you will need to achieve all three objectives, and understand that success in one at the expense of the others will not be enough. That’s why it’s essential to take a balanced, analytical approach to what’s required and objectively assess your suitability.»

How to Get a CEO’s Most Important Decision Right in Three Steps

Christian is used to helping boards and CEOs navigate this question. At a time when it might be tempting to sell out, he takes a step back and analyzes the facts:

«You’ll need to follow the steps you would for any other major decision: a thorough analysis of the CEO role you’re considering, obtaining advice from an appropriate expert, and assessing your own suitability objectively and based on facts. Doing this well will allow you to make a valid prediction: will you succeed in this CEO role, or is someone better suited for it?»

 

Richard comments that much is known about the science of human error in hiring decisions,

but what the science tells us isn’t always followed when CEOs decide which role to take:

«Accurately predicting success requires controlling for the errors found in conventional approaches to CEO appointments. It’s these errors that lead to the unpredictable outcomes Christian described. If you let yourself be guided by science—using knowledge and facts to make evidence-based decisions—you’ll make better career choices. In that case, when taking on a new CEO role, three main mistakes are commonly made: to overcome these, be precise, systematic, and objective.»

 

 

Step One: Don’t generalize, be precise.

To make an accurate prediction about success in a new role, you need to effectively predict how you will behave and perform in it.

Richard comments:

«Every CEO role has a specific need for results, context, and tasks that you’ve never experienced before. Therefore, when assessing whether you have the necessary competencies, carefully analyze the unique context of the new organization and determine what the CEO role requires now and in the future. Just because you’ve been successful as a CEO doesn’t mean this role is right for you. Science tells us that context is key in this decision.»

Christian goes on to point out some key questions that any potential CEO should thoroughly answer:

«The best way to think about a new role is to use the three-dimensional framework for leader success that Richard mentioned earlier. I express these in three questions that should be thoroughly answered:

 

Short- and long-term achievements: What are the immediate results and performance requirements of the CEO?

Impact on culture: In what environment must the results be achieved, and how should the new CEO impact the organization’s culture to ensure its success?

Long-term personal, team, and leader development: What future changes are anticipated in the task or environment, and therefore, what long-term development will be required?

Christian summarizes that a key point is knowing that success in one CEO role does not directly translate to success in another:

«Just because you’ve been a successful leader or CEO in the past doesn’t mean you’ll be successful in this new role. All it takes is a precise analysis to ensure that your self-selection decision is not based on stereotypical considerations or general ideas, but on specific, predictively relevant criteria.”

Step Two: Don’t Take Shortcuts: Be Systematic

Richard comments that the way to avoid overlooking important information in any decision, including vital career changes, is to follow a solid structure when analyzing the new position and its requirements:

“When evaluating the new organization you are joining, be sure to be systematic to avoid irrelevant information and analyze the position and its context thoroughly. While each CEO’s challenge is unique, the scope of what organizations need to achieve is not.

Effectively analyzing these five areas will ensure a systematic analysis of the organization and dramatically reduce the possibility of shortcuts that lead to a decision error:

– What is the market and context, now and in the future?

– What results need to be achieved and how ambitious are they, considering historical performance and context?

– What efforts are required in terms of short- and long-term strategies?

– What kind of organization is needed for success, and what is the gap compared to the current configuration?

– What leadership and staff capabilities are needed in this organization to achieve success at all levels, and what is the magnitude and nature of the gaps?

Christian goes on to emphasize that this type of analysis is common practice for CEOs, but it’s often overlooked when making career decisions:

“Systematic analysis ensures that information is properly understood and that the decision is well-founded. As a CEO, you constantly use these methods to decide on investment cases, purchase new IT platforms, perform important risk calculations, and so on. It’s important to do the same when making decisions about your career; a systematic analysis of the organization you’ll be joining as CEO is vital to making a good decision. Therefore, compile industry analysis reports, interview board members and leaders inside and outside the organization, and consult experts. Don’t take shortcuts only when effortful decision-making is most important.”

 

Step three: Don’t trust your intuition: be objective.

When researchers study selection errors, especially in senior positions, they find that more experienced leaders, such as CEOs, often perceive their instincts as having improved with experience. Christian comments simply:

«They’re wrong; instinct doesn’t improve with experience.»

Richard adds that once you’ve accepted that your gut feeling is likely a source of error, you need to be objective and thorough in your own self-assessment:

«To overcome impression-based decision-making (gut feeling), you’ll need to assess yourself as accurately as you’ve analyzed the new role. A fact-based assessment of the competencies and skills you bring to the CEO role, relative to your analysis of the specific job requirements, is a vital step. It doesn’t matter whether you like the people you meet at the interview, respect the chairman’s reputation, or feel affinity with the brand. The important thing is being able to clearly understand and describe whether you meet the performance requirements of the CEO role.»

Christian adds that a common source of error at this stage is failing to define the most important decision criteria:

“Focus on a small number of the most important facts to limit the amount of distracting information and concentrate on the fundamental criteria. What vital performance capabilities are required for success? Do you have them? And engage an independent expert who understands the business situation and the requirements of the CEO position; so expect, even demand, that your new employer properly evaluate you.”

In summary, Christian concludes:

“In all of our lives, science helps us enormously. By applying science to your most important decision as a CEO—whether or not to accept the CEO position—you will have a greater guarantee of success. After all, the only CEO who can succeed is the one in the right position.”

We hope you find this first article in our «The Successful CEO» series helpful. After following the steps and making the right decision by accepting your new appointment as CEO, it’s time to develop the most important plan you’ve ever created: your own stakeholder onboarding and management plan. And that’s the topic of our next article in the series, «What is the most important plan a CEO creates, and how can science help you get it right?»

 

 

 

CEO Decisions: What to Focus On?

The following contribution corresponds to the Xquadrant portal, which defines itself as: helping successful entrepreneurs, elite CEOs, and other high-level leaders multiply their impact on their purpose, their people, and their profits.

We do this by working directly with leaders and teams, through our community of high-level CEOs, our group coaching programs, and through conferences and writing.

 

Xquadrant is a leadership consultancy for world-class leaders committed to further multiplying their impact. We have clients on five continents, including some of the most successful and impressive executives on the planet. We believe in multiplying the impact of successful leaders because they have the potential to be an incredible force for good. They are the ones who will shape our future and create environments where people can thrive.

 

 

 

As a CEO, which decisions are truly yours to make, and which ones should you empower others to make?

This is a key question any CEO or senior leader must answer, and it’s a recurring topic of discussion among my clients.

Lack of clarity on this will result in disempowerment for your team and personal overload for you, which in turn will significantly reduce your impact.

 

 

Non-CEO Decisions

Let’s start with some obvious areas that aren’t CEO decisions and shouldn’t be your responsibility.

1. Functional Decisions

First, don’t make decisions about anything that is directly the responsibility of a member of your team. It seems obvious, but I can tell you that there are a large number of CEOs who make marketing, financial, or operational decisions simply because they fall under their purview.

Make it clear: you have executives making those decisions; if you’re not comfortable with them making them, you should mentor them, develop them, or, if you haven’t succeeded, replace them.

2. Cross-Functional Decisions

The second group of decisions are those that fall between two or more organizational units. For example, your sales director makes sales decisions and your marketing directors make marketing decisions, but what about decisions that affect both sales and marketing?

These might seem like ideal areas for the CEO to intervene, as a senior cross-functional leader.

Well, if you intervene there, you’re becoming the referee between two of your subordinates and exposing your team to constant pressure and jockeying for position, rather than collaboration and cross-functional problem-solving.

Instead, why not ask the two leaders involved to collaborate and arrive at a joint solution? As John Chambers (the legendary former CEO of Cisco) used to say, it’s worth reminding them that if they can’t agree on a viable solution that prioritizes the organization’s interests, they may have the wrong executives on their team…

If they’re uncomfortable with having them make those decisions, you should coach them, develop them, or, if they haven’t succeeded, replace them.

CEO Decisions: 6 Key Areas of Focus

So, what decisions and responsibilities remain for the CEO? It turns out there are quite a few.

 

 

1. Executive Team Development

As the CEO, you must make decisions about the composition and development of your senior leadership team. Don’t outsource this task to HR; it is your main lever for increasing organizational impact. If you’re interested, check out our email series «How to Make Your Team Great.»

2. Manage Your Direct Reports and Help Them Do the Same

In addition to developing the collective impact of the executive team, you also need to manage your direct reports. They may be experienced leaders, but if you believe senior managers shouldn’t need management, you should reconsider what management really is and stop viewing it as a corrective.

One often overlooked aspect is ensuring that your senior managers properly manage their direct reports. If good management and teamwork are only found at the highest level, the organization has a problem. Therefore, pay attention to this second level of the management chain.

3. Set the leadership tone for the entire organization and hold leaders accountable for their managerial behavior

As the CEO, you must make decisions about the company’s overall leadership tone: the values ​​that are truly held and reinforced, and those that are only paid lip service. If the CEO doesn’t hold leaders throughout the company accountable for expressing the core values ​​and stated managerial behaviors, no one will, and the health of the organization will be severely impacted.

4. Own and Defend the Organizational Vision and Mission

The CEO is ultimately responsible for the organizational vision and mission and, as such, will need to make decisions to maintain focus and momentum on this overarching agenda.

5. Personally Sponsor the Organizational Transformation Number One

As Geoffrey Moore points out in his book «Zone to Win,» the CEO must personally drive the organization’s transformation number one project.

This transformation will require people to act in unnatural ways, as the corporate culture, mindset, and incentives have not yet adapted to the need for change.

Therefore, as CEO, you will need to make executive decisions to drive your number one transformation project and provide the senior management support you need to succeed.

6. Manage an Effective Relationship with the Board

Finally, the CEO is the primary interface between the board and the company, and will need to make decisions about how to create the most effective relationship possible between the two entities.

How This Changes Your Mental Model

By internalizing these decision-making areas and the CEO’s decision priorities, you will see your role much more clearly.

For example, why should CEOs get involved in mergers and acquisitions?

Well…

– Not to perform the functions of the finance team.

– Not to perform the functions of the legal team.

– Not to perform operational due diligence.

– No, the reason CEOs should be deeply involved in M&As is to ensure that the acquired leaders are truly an asset to the management team (point 1 above), that behavioral integrity is preserved (point 3 above), and that the transaction advances the organization’s overall mission and vision (point 4).

What other decisions should be the sole purview of the CEO? Leave a comment with your opinion.

 

 

 

 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Roles and Responsibilities vs. Other Management Functions

The following contribution is from the Investopedia website and is written by Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, a financial writer with over 15 years of experience on Wall Street as a derivatives trader. In addition to his extensive experience in the derivatives market, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam earned his MA in economics from The New School for Social Research and his PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

 

Definition

A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive in a company and acts as the primary communication link between the board of directors and the organization.

What is a chief executive officer (CEO)?

A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive in a company. The primary responsibilities of a CEO include making important corporate decisions, driving a company’s team and resources toward strategic goals, and acting as the primary point of communication between the board of directors and corporate operations. In many cases, the CEO is the public face of the company.

Chief executive officers are elected by the board of directors and its shareholders. They report to the president and the board of directors, who are appointed by the shareholders.

Key Takeaways

The chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking person in a company.

Every company is different, but CEOs are typically responsible for expanding the business, driving profitability, and improving the stock price in the case of publicly traded companies.

CEOs manage a company’s overall operations.

CEOs are typically elected by the board of directors.

Some studies suggest that 45% of a company’s performance is influenced by the CEO. Others show that they affect 15% of the variability in profitability.

 

 

CEO Roles and Responsibilities

The role of a CEO varies by company, depending on its size, culture, and corporate structure.

CEOs in large corporations typically deal only with high-level strategic decisions and those that direct the company’s overall growth.

 

CEOs may work on strategy, organization, and culture. They may analyze how capital is allocated in the company or how to build teams for success. They may also set the tone, vision, and sometimes the culture of their organizations.

Key Facts

CEOs at smaller companies tend to be more hands-on and more involved in day-to-day functions.

A 2018 Harvard Business Review study analyzed how CEOs spend their time.

They found that 72% of their work time was spent in meetings.

Of the remaining time, 25% was spent on relationships, 25% on business unit and functional reviews, 21% on strategy, and 16% on culture and organization. The study showed that only 1% of their work time was spent on crisis management and 3% on customer relations.

Examples of CEO Duties

The roles and responsibilities of a CEO vary considerably depending on the industry and size of the organization. Generally, a CEO is expected to assume some or all of these tasks:

Overseeing an organization’s strategic direction

Lower-level managers are typically more involved in the company’s day-to-day operational activities. A CEO typically synthesizes these results and decides on the company’s long-term plans.

 

 Implement Proposed Changes and Plans

A CEO typically relies on themselves and other executive leaders to begin implementing those plans after developing the long-term vision.

Changes are often implemented directly by operating managers, but it is ultimately the CEO’s responsibility to ensure that long-term plans are fulfilled.

Participate in Media Relations and Public Relations

A CEO is often the face of the company, which includes participating in media relations.

A CEO may participate in conferences, address the public about notable changes in the company, or participate in community events.

Interact with Other Leadership Executives

Having a team of executives a CEO can trust is vital to a company’s success.

A CEO often relies on other leaders to manage their own areas rather than directly overseeing all aspects of the company. They then interact with them to gain an overall understanding of how things are going.

 

 

Accountability to the Board of Directors

A board of directors oversees the performance of the entire company and holds the CEO accountable.

A CEO often reports to the board of directors, provides updates on strategic plans, and receives feedback from board members on the company’s overall direction.

Monitoring Company Performance

A CEO is ultimately responsible for a company’s financial performance.

They may rely on financial or non-financial metrics to monitor their progress.

They often request reports from their direct reports to gain a quick understanding of how each area of ​​the company is performing and the strategies to pursue.

Setting a Precedent for Culture and Work Environment

A CEO is responsible for setting the tone from senior management and creating the work environment they deem optimal to drive success.

Employees who work under a CEO often rely on them to develop and maintain the organization’s culture.

CEO Compensation and Fame

CEOs also receive many other benefits based on their position, but the total compensation of the highest-paid CEO in 2024 was reportedly $101,497,009.

The honor went to James Robert Anderson of Coherent Corp. Overall, the average compensation is around $25.6 million, representing a 9.5% increase from the previous year.

CEOs of large corporations often achieve fame or infamy due to their frequent contact with the public.

Examples include Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA), and Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple (AAPL).

Jobs became such a global icon that, following his death in 2011, an explosion of films and documentaries about him emerged.

 

Fun Fact

The leader of an organization may not have the title of CEO, although they may assume all the typical responsibilities of a CEO.

Related Management Positions

In the American corporate world, there are numerous senior executive positions that begin with the letter C, for «chief.» This group of senior managers is known as the C-suite or C-level in corporate parlance.

The CEO may also serve as the chief financial officer (CFO) or chief operating officer (COO) in small organizations or those still in the startup or growth phases.

This can create a lack of clarity and overburden the executive.

Assigning multiple positions to a single executive-level individual can harm a company’s continuity and ultimately affect its long-term profitability.

The assigned titles and the associated duties can quickly become confusing when it comes to executive-level positions within an organization.

The Difference Between CEO and COB

The CEO directs the operational aspects of a company. The board of directors oversees the company as a whole and is led by the chairman of the board (CBO).

The chairman of the board does not have the power to overrule the board’s decisions, but the board can overrule those of the CEO.

The chairman is, in effect, considered a peer to the other board members.

In some cases, the CEO and chairman of the board may be the same person, but many companies divide these roles between two people.

This provides better governance and oversight of the CEO’s work.

The difference between the CEO and the CFO

The CFO is a company’s chief financial officer. CEOs manage overall operations. CFOs focus specifically on financial matters.

A CFO analyzes a company’s financial strengths and makes recommendations to improve financial weaknesses.

The CFO also tracks cash flow and oversees the company’s financial planning, such as investments and capital structures.

The CFO seeks to generate returns for shareholders by focusing on financial discipline and driving margin and revenue growth.

The Difference Between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The chief operating officer (COO) is typically the second-in-command after the CEO.

Their responsibilities include recruiting, the legal department, payroll, and training, in addition to administrative duties as a human resources manager.

The Difference Between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Other Leadership Positions

There are other leadership positions that may or may not overlap with the CEO.

Founder

The founder of a company is the person who founded it. They helped create the company, creating the bylaws and articles of incorporation, the organizational structure, and the overall strategy from day one.

The title of founder can apply to someone who currently works for a company or someone who founded it but no longer works for it. They may also be considered a founder and simultaneously called founder/CEO if they contributed to the founding of the company.

President

A president is an official who chairs a group or committee. They may also be given the title «chairman.» They are in charge of managing a group of people who are often assigned a specific task or set of responsibilities. A board of directors typically has a chair who oversees the management of the entire board. A CEO may serve as chair if he or she directly leads a committee.

 

 

Owner

An owner is a financial shareholder of a company, usually with an equity stake in the company. An owner may be entitled to a company’s profits in proportion to their ownership percentage, as companies can have multiple owners. Each person may be considered a co-owner if there is more than one. A chief executive officer may be an owner if they have a financial stake in the company.

Director

The term «director» can refer to several positions. A director may be a member of senior management or hold an executive-level position, depending on the company’s organizational structure. A director may be a person who serves on an organization’s board of directors, or a chief executive officer may be a managerial-level employee. However, in most companies, chief executive officers hold a higher job level than directors. A chief executive officer may also report to a director.

Important

A chief executive officer typically reports to a board of directors, which collectively ensures the smooth running of the company.

The Impact of a CEO Change

Markets can respond both positively and negatively to a change in corporate leadership during CEO transitions.

Studies show that CEOs can have a significant impact on a company’s performance. A 2018 study found that 45% of a company’s performance is influenced by the CEO.

However, another study showed that CEOs affect only 15% of the variance in profitability.

A company’s stock price can change for a variety of reasons when a new CEO takes over.

A CEO change generally carries more downside risk than downside risk, especially when it is unplanned.

A stock’s price can fluctuate up or down depending on the market’s perception of the new CEO’s ability to lead the company.

Other factors to consider when investing in a stock undergoing a management change include the new CEO’s agenda, the possibility of a change in corporate strategy, and how effectively the company’s senior executives are managing the transition phase.

 

 CEOs Who Know the Industry Instill More Confidence

Investors often feel more comfortable with new CEOs who are already familiar with the dynamics of the company’s industry and the specific challenges it might face.

Investors often evaluate a new CEO’s track record in creating shareholder value.

A CEO’s reputation could be reflected in areas such as their ability to increase market share, reduce costs, or expand into new markets.

What Does a CEO Do?

CEOs are responsible for managing a company. This can include delegating and directing agendas, driving profitability, managing the company’s organizational structure and strategy, and communicating with the board of directors.

Is the CEO the owner of the company?

It depends. In some cases, CEOs are the owners of a company, or in others, they are elected by the board of directors.

Is CEO or CFO a senior position?

CEO is the highest position one can hold in a company.

The chief financial officer is responsible for the company’s financial discipline, identifying its strengths and weaknesses and ultimately reporting directly to the chief executive officer.

What position is higher than that of chief executive officer?

A chief executive officer typically reports directly to the board of directors. The board oversees the CEO’s performance and can remove or replace him or her if it believes his or her performance is not producing the desired results.

In summary,

The CEO is responsible for making important corporate decisions, driving the company’s direction, supervising other executives, and overseeing growth plans.

He or she is accountable to the board of directors or the company’s stakeholders and is often the public face of the organization.

CEOs typically have extensive experience in their industry and their task is to guide the company toward success and profitability.

 

 

 

Leadership

A CEO’s First 100 Days: What Should a New CEO Do First?

The following contribution is from Vistage, the world’s largest peer-to-peer CEO coaching and advisory organization for small and medium-sized business leaders. We offer the most effective approach to achieving better results, accelerating your company’s growth, and maximizing your impact as a leader.

Authored by the team

 

 

 

As a new CEO, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Those first 100 days on the job are crucial, as they set the tone for your tenure and potentially impact your effectiveness as a leader. For a CEO, the first 100 days can determine the future success of your entire company.

 

 

But what should you do to get off to a good start?

During those first 100 days as CEO, focus on honing your leadership skills and taking a thoughtful approach to onboarding a new company. Implementing effective business strategies and techniques will help you create an impactful 100-day plan for a new CEO.

For insights and advice, we turned to three seasoned executives from the Vistage community: Carol Steinberg, president of CIK Consulting; Robert Powell, CEO of Invictus Leadership Group, and Charles Bernard, CEO of Criteria for Success. Together, they offered these 15 tips for CEOs in their first 100 days, covering leadership qualities, strategic mindset, and more.

Ask about Vistage Membership.

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Prepare thoroughly

Start well-rested

Assess the situation

Develop an action plan

Prioritize knowledge transfer

Communicate clearly

Listen actively

Address talent challenges

Build a collaborative sales team

Connect with your people

Foster creative connections

Resolve conflicts quickly

Engage with clients effectively

Create a sales playbook

Encourage open dialogue

FAQs for the First 100 Days as CEO

Overview: A CEO’s First 100 Days

Checklist for Your First 100 Days as CEO

1. Prepare thoroughly

What should a new CEO do first? Before your official start date, spend time thoroughly researching your competitive environment, Steinberg recommends. Consider some of the following options:

Carefully observe what your competitors are doing and how they’ve succeeded.

Study economic trends that could impact your business in the short term. Start thinking ahead, considering how you might use advances like Artificial Intelligence or the Internet of Things to gain competitive advantage in the future.

 

2. Start well-rested

When deciding what a new CEO should do first, it’s important not to overlook the need for self-care. Starting a new role and becoming a new leader are stressful positions. To cope with the demands of running a company, you must arrive at work feeling rested. Therefore, take a long vacation before starting. «Really get away, at least for a week, so you don’t burn out in the new role,» says Powell. «I’ve seen it before: someone jumped from one job to another immediately and never had time to rest. They were ineffective.»

3. Assess the situation

Good decision-making will keep your business running. A 100-day plan for a new CEO should consider the current situation to contextualize future business decisions. Is the company you’re leading financially stable or struggling? If it’s the latter, have a good understanding of the issues before you start, along with a realistic plan to address them. «If the house is on fire, you’ll need to make quick decisions about what changes need to be implemented and what expenses need to be cut,» says Powell. For example, you might need to realign the product portfolio or realign the entire organization in your first 100 days.

4. Develop an action plan

As CEO, you’re responsible for setting a vision and getting buy-in from everyone else. Establishing this vision in your first 100 days will help you focus on the most important issues, says Steinberg. «It’s critical to define your action plan so you don’t get distracted, lost in the spotlight, sidetracked, or ignored what you really should be considering,» he explains.

 

 

Performance Statistics for Successful Leadership Transitions

Creating an action plan can help ensure a smooth transition, which is crucial for success.

In fact, a successful transition increases the likelihood that organizations will achieve their three-year performance goals by 90% and reduces the risk of attrition by 13%.

It will also help you manage the wide range of challenges you’ll inherit as a new CEO, whether you’re replacing someone who retired or someone who was laid off.

5. Prioritize knowledge transfer

As CEO, you need to give people the context, authorization, and space to transfer knowledge to others in the company, Bernard says.

Otherwise, you’ll inevitably become a bottleneck for your direct reports.

In leadership team meetings, he recommends, encourage your best salespeople to share their «secret sauce» with their colleagues.

Better yet, create projects that naturally involve knowledge transfer, such as creating a sales playbook for the company.

During your first 100 days as CEO, prioritize knowledge sharing, open communication, and cross-functional meetings.

6. Communicate clearly

During your first month in office, hold a company-wide meeting and outline your action plan. Communicate what you intend to do over the next one or two quarters.

 

 Be open and transparent about your plans.

Otherwise, you’ll leave people guessing or forming opinions based on something they’ve heard, which may or may not be true.

«Give people the unvarnished truth,» Powell advises. Often, CEOs feel they need to contribute their perspective, but they don’t have to, because people usually know the truth.

7. Active Listening

When CEOs want to establish themselves as leaders, they may focus on business problems where they can contribute their greatest expertise. Resist this temptation and instead «be a sponge,» says Steinberg.

«Listen and let people know you’re listening and that their input is important in formulating your business strategy, ideas, and priorities. Don’t come in saying, ‘I’ve done this before, and I know exactly what I’m going to do.'»

Prioritize active listening over speaking. Active listening not only helps your staff feel heard, but it also gives you an opportunity to learn more about the company in your first 100 days as CEO.

8. Address talent challenges

The COVID-19 crisis has revealed a lot about talent: how important it is, how expensive it is, how damaging toxic employees can be, and how difficult it is to lose your best team. For these reasons, a new CEO must become directly involved in talent issues.

As a first step, Steinberg recommends reading performance reviews or evaluations to fully understand the talent pool. He warns against the practice of laying off existing teams to bring in your own staff. «This is dangerous; it makes the rest of the employees think, ‘Maybe I’m next,'» he says. «You must understand your talent before trying to wipe the slate clean.»

9. Create a collaborative sales team

This team should work with sales, marketing, operations, finance, human resources, and executive leadership, Bernard says.

«The new paradigm for a new CEO is that sales is no longer a separate function,» he adds. «If your focus is business growth—which I can’t imagine it isn’t—then you need to build a sales growth team.»

By focusing on a collaborative approach to sales, you ensure your sales teams have the tools and knowledge they need to operate efficiently.

As CEO, in your first 100 days, assess the current structure of your sales, marketing, and operations teams to figure out how you can improve the setup for a more streamlined approach.

10. Connect with Your People

Obviously, you’ll need to study your company’s operations, processes, KPIs, trends, and economic influences. But it’s important to know your stakeholders, whether they’re employees and shareholders, suppliers, and customers. Understand what people are doing at all levels; visit different sites and facilities and have candid, strategic conversations. «Don’t just sit in your office listening to your four subordinates,» says Steinberg. «Really get out there. People need to see that you mean business.»

11. Foster creative connections

If you run a company with a remote workforce, like many CEOs during COVID-19, you’ll need to use non-traditional methods to connect with your employees.

 

Make it an objective way to connect with them. Steinberg suggests giving employees GrubHub gift cards or scheduling interactive activities like cooking classes or stand-up comedy shows over Zoom. “Just do things to show, ‘I understand you, I care about you, I understand you, and maybe this will cheer you up today,’” she says. “Small things like that mean a lot, especially when we can no longer compliment people or shake their hands in the hallway.”

12. Resolve Conflicts Quickly

Leadership accountability is key to optimizing your company’s performance. You need to resolve two types of conflicts immediately: those caused by unmet expectations and those caused by hidden communication.

“Often the two go hand in hand,” Bernard says.

Uncovering these conflicts will require asking thoughtful questions during one-on-one meetings as well as team meetings. “Don’t ask, ‘Are you having any conflicts?’ because people will say, ‘No, I’m fine, there are no conflicts.’” Be open to listening to any problems that arise, he says, as it will help you build trust with your teams and lead a stronger organization.

13. Engage with Customers Effectively

Don’t wait for a problem to arise to talk to your customers. Powell recommends proactively reaching out and asking them three simple questions:

– What should we start doing?

– What should we stop doing?

– What should we continue doing?

«Customers will be your best source,» Powell says, «because they can tell you about the quality of your product, your delivery time, and ideas that could give you a strategic advantage.»

This conversation will help you build better relationships with your customers and may even reveal new opportunities for strategic collaboration, he adds.

If you’re unsure of your role in customer engagement, don’t hesitate to do so.

Your role as CEO is to guide the company to success.

Customer satisfaction is critical to business growth, so your role as CEO should involve promoting positive customer interactions.

14. Create a Sales Playbook

In your first 100 days as CEO, determine whether the company has a sales playbook and how it can be improved.

If all of your company’s sales activities are channeled through your VP of Sales, you should develop a cross-functional sales strategy using a playbook, Bernard says. This playbook should include everything from email templates to value propositions and case studies.

Involve everyone in collaboration: Your finance team, for example, should have input on pricing, profitability, compensation, incentive plans, management by objectives, and bonuses, and your HR team should have input on onboarding, skill development, and ramping up new hires. «Today, with COVID-19, the organization is very fragmented,» Bernard says. «As a CEO, you need to establish common understandings, expectations, and processes.»

 

 

15. Encourage Open Dialogue

Executive transitions can be difficult for all employees in an organization. To ease the CEO transition, Powell recommends scheduling a special interactive meeting with all employees. The meeting begins with a brief introduction of the new CEO to everyone in the organization.

The CEO then leaves the room so employees can develop a list of questions they would like answered.

A facilitator records the questions, but the employees’ identities remain anonymous. The CEO then returns to the room and answers the questions as honestly as possible.

«Inevitably, during this process, a dialogue begins between those present and the new leader,» Powell explains. «It melts the ice because employees can ask questions, and lines of communication are opened.»

 

Frequently Asked Questions About the First 100 Days as CEO

What should a CEO do on their first day?

First impressions matter. On your first day as the new CEO:

Reach out to board members.

Interact with as many employees as possible, across all levels and departments.

Make time to introduce yourself to key stakeholders.

Ask questions.

Show interest in understanding their roles and challenges.

By actively engaging with your new team, you demonstrate the type of leader you want to be. Avoid appearing distant or disinterested; look for opportunities to listen to staff and observe the company in action. Presenting yourself as a hands-on CEO will set the tone for your entire journey with the company.

What should your action plan for the first 100 days include?

Now that you’re in charge, you’ll need a plan that can be communicated to senior leaders and employees at all levels. When developing your plan, consider including:

Your company’s strengths and opportunities, as well as the current state of the market

Your main points of contact with each stakeholder

Your action and communication plans

Your objectives

Your metrics for measuring success

Your Action Plan for the First 100 Days

A well-planned action plan provides structure and purpose for your first 100 days as CEO. Create a new CEO 100-day plan to guide your decisions and priorities. This will ensure you make the most of your time and are actively involved in the business from the beginning.

What are the mistakes new CEOs make?

When asking «What should a new CEO do first?», new CEOs face several challenges.

Some of the most common mistakes CEOs make in their first 100 days include not listening, overestimating their capabilities, neglecting culture and team dynamics, and not setting clear priorities.

100-day plans for new CEOs often include solid visions and ideas, but they can make it difficult to listen to and understand employees’ perspectives and concerns.

Similarly, new CEOs may underestimate the complexity of the role and overestimate their ability to implement significant changes quickly.

Ignoring the existing corporate culture can lead to resistance and lack of support from employees.

Avoid these mistakes by setting clear priorities, focusing on alignment, and striving for a smooth transition.

Other common mistakes new CEOs make in their first 100 days include:

– Moving too fast or too slow

– Ignoring the importance of communication

– Not managing their time effectively

– Avoiding difficult decisions

– Being too isolated

– Not maintaining agility and adaptability

– Not delegating effectively

It’s important to keep in mind that to be your best, you need to feel your best. Don’t neglect self-care, especially during those challenging first 100 days as the new CEO.

 

Although the first few months can be exhausting and stressful, it’s important to take care of yourself, such as getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, eating right, and cultivating relationships. This will help you be the best leader possible.

How can you prepare for your first 100 days as CEO?

Preparing for your first 100 days as a new CEO is crucial to your success in the role. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to prepare effectively:

Join a peer-to-peer mentoring group: Seek out peer-to-peer mentoring groups like Vistage or other local CEO networks to access valuable information and support.

The main benefits of peer-to-peer mentoring groups include networking, mentoring, and learning from shared experiences.

In your first days as a new CEO, mentoring is critical to your success.

Familiarize yourself with the company: Study the industry your company operates in by analyzing market trends, competitors, and potential disruptions. The more you know about your industry and your specific company, the better prepared you’ll be to face various challenges. Thoroughly analyze the company’s financial and performance reports to identify strengths and weaknesses.

Strengthen your communication skills: To communicate effectively, you’ll need to develop a clear and coherent vision for the company. Make it concise, inspiring, and easy to understand. Develop a structured communication plan that allows you to communicate your vision to stakeholders, employees, investors, and the board of directors. You can also practice public speaking to improve your ability to deliver messages persuasively.

How can you measure success during your first 100 days?

There are several questions leaders should ask themselves during their first 100 days to effectively measure success.

One of the most important questions is how you will measure success during your first 100 days as CEO. Measuring success is essential to understanding how well you have adapted to the role and whether you are on the right track.

Here’s how to effectively measure success:

Set clear, measurable goals.

Define key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your strategic priorities.

Ensure your goals are quantifiable.

Regularly review progress toward your goals (weekly or monthly).

If you notice you’re not on track to meet your goals, adjust them as needed.

Seek feedback through employee surveys, one-on-one meetings, or focus groups.

Engage with key stakeholders and senior management to gain insight into the company’s direction.

Compare the results to your initial expectations when setting goals at the beginning of your first 100 days as CEO. This will give you a better idea of ​​the progress you’ve made and guide you on how to adapt and plan for the next phase. Measuring success is an ongoing process that helps you adapt your leadership approach for sustained success.

Summary: A CEO’s First 100 Days

The first 100 days as a new CEO are crucial to your long-term success. Spend this time preparing, researching, and listening to different perspectives on the company you lead to build trust with key stakeholders and maximize the impact of your role.

By paying attention to the needs of your employees, stakeholders, and customers, you’ll be better prepared to navigate the dynamic role of a new CEO. Keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for assuming the CEO role. Stay flexible and adapt to changes in the company and the market as they occur.

 

 

 

What It Takes for a New CEO to Have a Successful Transition

The following contribution corresponds to the ERE portal, which defines itself as follows: Our mission is to empower the global community of talent professionals with the intelligence they need to thrive.

We offer online publications, events, webinars, newsletters, training, and community forums, all with one common goal: helping build the workforces of the future.

The authors are Daniel Forrester and James Williams.

Daniel Forrester, founder and CEO of THRUUE, is an author, speaker, strategist, and corporate culture expert with more than 20 years of experience helping leaders drive transformative change. He has interviewed hundreds of senior leaders in organizations, learning about the gaps they face directly.

James E. Williams, Jr. is president of the EasterSeals Foundation. He previously served as president and CEO of Easter Seals International for 24 years. During his tenure, he led the organization through years of unprecedented growth, achieving total revenue exceeding $2 billion and serving more than two million people annually.

 

There’s nothing more exciting than the moment a new leader is announced.

Employees Google the new CEO, wondering what they’ll do to change the organization.

A new leader brings fresh ideas. They offer a new vision. They may even help the organization imagine better ways to stay relevant and thrive in the future.

The frequency with which new CEOs arrive, their tenure, and the rate at which they achieve a new vision or fall short of board expectations have been widely reported and even studied in academia; the results are striking.

 

 

According to some estimates, two out of five new CEOs fail to meet their objectives in their first 18 months.

Even CEOs who thrive in their first 18 months have an average tenure of eight years, down from the global average of 9.5 years in 1995.

Tenure is even shorter for CEOs of large-cap companies, where the average is 7.2 years.

The picture is bleaker for outside CEOs, who take twice as long to rise as those promoted from within.

Top executives report that only one in five outside CEOs is considered a high performer at the end of their first year, while nearly half leave within the first 18 months.

This systemic failure has nothing to do with competence, knowledge, or experience, but rather with how the CEO transition was orchestrated and whether important steps were missed.

Everyone Is Responsible for CEO Transitions

THRUUE has worked with dozens of CEOs in transition, and the stakes are always high for both the organization and the new CEO’s reputation.

While it doesn’t guarantee success, a programmatic approach to a new CEO transition can increase the odds and shorten the timeframe. Peter DiGiammarino, CEO, professor, author, and chairman of the board at THRUUE, recommends goals that hold the entire leadership team accountable for the new CEO’s success. This is critical, as a CEO without leadership team cohesion is like a moon without a planet.

The goals outlined below are easy to understand but often difficult to achieve without prior experience, diligence, and consistent focus. For a successful transition, these goals should be:

Increase individual and collective awareness among the current leadership team about what the new CEO seeks to accomplish and their definition of success in the first six months, first year, and beyond.

Transform current executives from observers to stakeholders so that their energy, wisdom, perspectives, and ideas can be channeled constructively and contribute to (rather than evaluate) success. Accelerate the incoming executive’s learning process and integration into the organization’s leadership network.

 

Fostering Interest and Engagement with the Incoming Executive and Their Future Vision for the Organization

We’ve organized what we’ve learned about CEO transitions into four key programmatic areas that new CEOs should focus on. Each contributes to achieving the aforementioned objectives and, when implemented, increases the likelihood of success.

These areas are:

Vision: Defining what you seek to do (vision change) and turning this vision into a reality that the team can understand, appreciate, internalize, and commit to doing everything possible to achieve.

Alignment: Ensuring the leadership team’s cohesion and alignment around a shared plan to achieve the vision.

Accountability: Establishing a clear and unambiguous accountability pattern.

Culture: Obtain a baseline view of the culture you have inherited, formally or informally, through measurement techniques. A current inherited culture has the ability to enable or disable any vision and strategy you and your leadership team seek to achieve, regardless of your experience and talent.

 

 

Turning the Vision of Change into Reality

Transforming the vision presented to the board during the interview process into a practical reality is one of the first steps for a new leader, and it begins with asking the right questions.

THRUUE has guided dozens of new CEOs in answering and acting on the following series of questions, resulting in action and facilitating a successful transition.

New executives must not only answer these questions but also achieve leadership team alignment around them—a crucial, yet often overlooked, step in a CEO transition.

Vision to Action Questions:

As a new CEO, what do you need to quickly learn about the organization, its people, its history, and its culture to validate or strengthen your vision? Do all or some members of the current leadership team share your vision? How much time will you dedicate to achieving alignment and cohesion?

How will you listen to the voice of the entire organization? (It’s critical to ask the right questions in your first all-staff meeting: what’s the most important thing NOT to change, what you’re most eager to change, and what will hinder that change.)

What was the previous CEO’s vision for the organization, and how can you build on it or chart a new course without rehashing past mistakes?

How will you integrate the voice of your customers or key groups into the vision? How will you set aside time to meet with customers so their input is integrated into the change agenda?

How will you create an 18-month plan (focus areas, work streams) with the management team to take the first steps toward your vision? (New leaders should define tangible milestones for the first year that show clear progress toward the vision. If nothing is written down or agreed upon, members of the leadership team are likely to fall back on old habits and priorities.)

How will you align and communicate with dozens, hundreds, and possibly thousands of employees around the shared vision? (In our experience, leaders and leadership teams communicate their vision for the organization ten times less effectively.)

What role will the board play in implementing your vision for change, and what are their expectations for change and strategy that need to be considered?

 

The questions above assume that both the new CEO and the organization fully understand and can answer why their organization exists and why anyone should care. If they don’t know their «why,» their «mission,» and their «purpose,» their vision will be directionless. We encourage new CEOs to ensure the organization’s «why» is clear and compelling. If not, they should convene a meeting with the leadership and board within the first 120 days to define the «why» and ensure the mission is clear.

Talk to the Board

During the first 120 days, we recommend new CEOs have explicit conversations (weekly if necessary) with the chair of the board so that the four program areas are explained and considered the first component of the change agenda.

Many first-time CEOs don’t understand the power of a strong collaboration with the chair of the board to drive the organization’s goals.

Too often, CEOs implicitly drive progress, and board leaders implicitly imagine what the CEO is actually doing.

CEOs must assess and then engage in formal, ongoing conversations so that the board is fully aware of the adoption or resistance to the change vision as the transition unfolds.

In our experience, when there is a mutually supportive collaboration between the chair and CEO, the likelihood of success increases exponentially.

Build a Team of Leaders and Followers

Over the past two decades, there has been a clear evolution in employee perceptions of CEOs.

We now see a greater emphasis on a leader’s ability to build and maintain an inclusive, high-trust relationship with a group of loyal, capable, and motivated followers as critical to a CEO’s success.

Leadership, therefore, is being redefined as a relationship between leader and followers, and it requires a new set of competencies that were often neglected in the past.

Being a leader today means winning over and convincing a group of dynamic and demanding followers to stay and help their organization reach its performance and growth potential.

Opening a broad channel of communication requires new CEOs to dedicate hours to one-on-one meetings with their direct reports, where both participants actively and equally engage in listening and communicating.

This allows CEOs to ensure the team shares the same vision the board expects them to implement. For organizations with 5 to 7 direct reports to the CEO, this means 10 to 14 hours of conversation must first take place, which will then be channeled into one or more leadership team meetings, held outside the office to avoid distractions and achieve the necessary cohesion and alignment.

Leaders must be proficient in discovering as much as possible about who they are and how they interact with their followers.

Today, a group of followers is much less likely to trust and follow those who have a dominant vision of leadership and do not seek input from others.

 

 Create Shared Accountability

It’s also critical to foster accountability after quickly creating an 18-month plan that your leadership team embraces.

Once the vision plan is designed, CEOs should immediately begin holding weekly or biweekly meetings (one-on-one) with their direct reports and ask them to report on sub-plans to disseminate the vision.

It’s recommended that feedback be clear and direct, with an ongoing conversation that asks:

 

– What are you trying to accomplish with respect to the plan?

– What have you done to achieve it?

– What happened and what have you learned?

– What do you plan to do next?

– What are the obstacles to achieving it?

– What are you doing with your colleagues to collaborate?

Ensuring consistent communication and holding each team member individually accountable for their part of the plan will foster buy-in and ensure they spend their time on what’s important, not on what they’ve already done.

Make Time for the Leadership Team

During the first 120 days (and throughout their tenure), we recommend incoming CEOs conduct explicit biweekly reviews of the vision and plan.

Each executive will own a part of that plan and be held accountable for how their team is executing it. A CEO’s success is tied to management’s consistent attention.

When CEOs fail to take root in new organizations, it’s often because they haven’t driven accountability and clarity about the hundreds of steps required to advance the vision.

Understand the Culture

Every organization faces a profound set of external threats and technological disruptions that seek to undermine the new CEO’s clearest vision. Furthermore, every organization has a deeply ingrained set of values, behaviors, and habits that can either embrace or thwart that vision.

New CEOs should quickly conduct a culture assessment to quantify and understand the values, behaviors, and norms of the current culture. Surveys of employees and, where appropriate, the board of directors allow you and your leadership team to identify gaps between the current culture (the way things are done around here) and the ideal culture (what people believe is needed for the organization to succeed).

 

Diagnostics can also help you understand the systems, processes, and structural elements that reinforce current behaviors and norms.

This provides insight into functional changes that can be implemented to improve workplace culture and remove barriers to achieving the ideal culture. Measuring cultural change also reveals your organization’s strengths—the pillars upon which your transformation vision can be built.

Even if you choose not to use a formal survey to diagnose the cultural situation, new CEOs should spend time in small focus groups and delve deeper with dozens of employees to understand what norms and behaviors remain in place within the organization.

The board of directors undoubtedly also plays a role in understanding culture, particularly by modeling the organization’s values ​​and holding the CEO accountable for fostering a healthy workplace culture.

Final Thoughts

Given that two out of five new CEOs fail within the first 18 months of their tenure, it’s clear that organizations and leaders must invest in well-executed transitions. Culture will eat away at your vision unless you measure and manage what’s happening in your new organization. Use the reflection questions and insights in this post to assess your transitions, identify improvements, and increase the likelihood of success.

 

 

Accelerating Executive Leadership: How New CEOs Can Integrate Quickly and Effectively

The following contribution corresponds to the Heidrick & Struggles portal, which is defined as follows: Heidrick & Struggles’ purpose is centered on the value that people, their unique perspectives, and experiences can bring to the world. We believe that fostering a culture of Inclusion and Belonging strengthens our ability to deliver for our clients, empowers our team, and drives innovation. Our commitment to inclusion and belonging is rooted in everything we do: from how we attract, retain, and develop talent to how we build high-performing teams and develop the next generation of leaders.

 

We recognize that inclusion and belonging are essential to an engaged and thriving workforce. By embracing a diverse range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, we cultivate an environment grounded in our values, where everyone feels supported and encouraged to contribute meaningfully. This commitment recognizes the complex and interconnected identities that define our colleagues and the clients we serve.

About the Authors

Sherry J. Duda is a principal in the Chicago office of Heidrick & Struggles and a member of Heidrick Consulting.

Andrew LeSueur) is a partner in the Stamford office and global managing partner of Heidrick Consulting.

 

 

 

New CEOs often struggle to get off to a good start.

Executives who follow five steps can accelerate their progress toward becoming effective leaders of their organization.

In a business environment constantly impacted by a variety of factors—from politics to climate change to technology—boards of directors are increasingly looking to leaders outside their own executive ranks.

In 2017, according to our research, 44% of S&P 500 companies that hired a new CEO hired an outsider to address new challenges.

This triples the proportion of external appointments during the previous two years, when external appointments hovered around 14%, and more than doubles the average of 21% for the six-year period from 2011 to 2016.

 

External CEOs are typically tapped to implement strategic course corrections, such as global restructurings, merger integrations, cultural shifts, or digital transformation, often within short timeframes to rapidly increase shareholder value.

However, to succeed with such fundamental changes—which affect the entire company, as well as its culture, teams, people, and broader ecosystem—leaders typically have a deep understanding of their own leadership effectiveness and that of the organization.

This presents an immediate hurdle for new external CEOs, but in our experience, they can overcome it if they take the time to ask the right questions and develop a thoughtful plan before implementing the change.

 

 

The Challenge of Integration

Most new C-suite executives, whether internal or external, get off to a rough start.

Research shows that 58% of the highest-priority hires (new external executives) fail to integrate into their new roles within 18 months.

This failure has the greatest consequences for CEOs, so it’s crucial to carefully plan their integration, and some companies succeed.

A study published by the Society for Human Resource Management shows that 66% of companies that implemented a robust onboarding and integration approach for all hires recorded a higher rate of successful integration into the company culture, 62% had higher productivity rates, and 54% reported higher employee engagement.

 

 Acceleration Is the Solution

What’s the key to success? Acting with the right speed at the right time to generate momentum across the entire ecosystem, from the daily actions of internal teams to key decisions made with the board.

A study by Heidrick & Struggles identified a set of organizations among the FT 500 companies that consistently outperformed others based on the compound average annual growth rate of organic revenue.

These 23 «super accelerators» weren’t differentiated by sector, geography, or strategic focus (in fact, many were trying to do the same thing: prioritize the customer, adopt clear management structures, etc.).

Rather, what differentiated the super accelerators was their ability to mobilize, execute, and transform with agility (what we call META), which, in essence, means that the company’s employees help it adapt and scale faster than its competitors in areas where this adds value.

However, acceleration doesn’t mean working at a frenetic, constant pace, as we see in many organizations. It means intelligently choosing the speed that will help the entire organization mobilize, execute, and transform with greater effectiveness and agility.

For new CEOs seeking to accelerate their own integration and their companies’ performance, a key element of finding the right speed is understanding and proactively managing their own intellectual and emotional reactions throughout their first 100 days; typically, we find that these reactions follow a predictable pattern that can represent speed traps for momentum.

Combining this personal knowledge with clarity about board expectations and data about the leadership team and corporate culture will help new CEOs understand when to slow down to gather information and make fact-based decisions, and when and where to execute with pace.

This go-slow-to-go-fast approach will enable new CEOs to succeed within their new context and accelerate performance on four levels: self-leadership, team leadership, organizational leadership, and ecosystem leadership.

 

 

Five Steps to CEO Acceleration

In our experience, new outside CEOs who follow the following five steps have the best chances of successful acceleration.

1. Identify New Strengths for a New Organization

It is well known that the characteristics that have served executives well up to now do not always lead to success in a new role, especially as an outside CEO. Success in any new leadership role depends on the ability to navigate the current organizational context and quickly understand the obstacles to performance. This includes understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

For CEOs, the challenge intensifies because, over time, organizations tend to adopt the characteristics of their leaders. We call this the «leader’s shadow,» and it is evident not only in small family businesses, where the founders’ values, habits, and biases predominate because everyone knows them, but also in larger organizations, such as Walmart, where Sam Walton built a unique and lasting culture.

 

Therefore, new CEOs face the difficult challenge of distancing themselves from the influence of their predecessors without alienating the organization by casting their own shadow.

 

We have found that executives who are unable or unwilling to change certain behaviors, especially when stressful situations arise in their new role, often fail.

In our experience, they are even more likely to fail when their habitual behaviors clash with the company culture or the shadow of the previous CEO.

Therefore, greater self-awareness is crucial for new CEOs. Gaining this self-awareness requires them to slow down, reflect on and assess their own strengths and weaknesses in relation to the new mission and environment, better understand their leadership style and influence, and spend time planning how they will leverage their strengths and close gaps.

Addressing the following questions, both individually and with key stakeholders, is a good start:

Why was I specifically hired for this position? What is my differentiation?

What is my vision for this organization?

What distinctive strengths can I leverage in this context?

What could derail me within this organization, and how can I become more self-aware and plan for my blind spots?

What influence will I project in the organization, and what will my legacy be? 2. Build an Effective Foundation of Influence

A CEO of a national property management company describes the situation he found himself in: “Before I arrived, the company experienced exponential growth, and it was a chaotic period. When you know the people you work with and how to manage things through your network, it’s easier to operate.

When you grow quickly and suddenly realize you don’t know everyone, it becomes harder to do your job, and things generally become more difficult.

There was a general feeling that things were more difficult than before and that the company hadn’t done enough to equip its staff with new tools and knowledge to keep up.”

He adds: “As a new CEO facing a new situation with systemic stress, you don’t yet know who to trust for reliable insights, the true cause of the problems, and what to do to begin addressing them.”

Indeed, external CEOs are often brought in to drive transformational change, but their every action is carefully evaluated and analyzed for significance.

To gain credibility and support, external CEOs need a thoughtful way to learn from selected internal and external stakeholders to create a shared understanding of the company’s operating situation, points of influence, and hidden threats and opportunities, while addressing legacy challenges immediately.

Understanding the formal and informal sources of influence within an organization takes time, as new CEOs often have few or no personal connections within the new organization.

This CEO adds: “You must take your time and be disciplined to talk to enough people across the company, from management to the front line, to get a clear view of what people love, what they hate, what they see as most flawed, and what they are excited about. As a new CEO, there will be a lot of pressure—from the board, from your leadership team, from the culture itself—to show up and deliver change quickly. Don’t fall into the trap of making big decisions too quickly; you don’t know enough to know whether they are the right ones or not. You need to give yourself some time before making big changes, but use it wisely to conduct due diligence. Then you can make important decisions with confidence and clear communication about the what, why, and how.”

 

 

Our experience shows that it’s helpful to take the time to systematically map how decisions are made, who has influence over key decisions, and where the sources of power lie. This means looking beyond the organizational chart to an analysis of the organizational network, which will offer solid insights into how members of the organization actually work together to share information, make decisions, and solve problems. This analysis, which can be conducted through interviews and diagnostics, should identify key influencers crucial to the new strategy, key players likely to leave the organization, high-potential leaders who will act as catalysts for change, and members of the true lynchpins of the organization, below the leadership team.

With a clear understanding of the organizational influencers, the new CEO is ready to embark on a listening tour to systematically learn and gain feedback in areas important to the change agenda.

These early conversations can be opportunities to achieve alignment, build trust, and share messages about the CEO’s personal story and vision for a healthy, high-performing organization. Armed with insight into how the organization actually works, new CEOs can face the challenge of asking the right questions and telling a relevant and compelling story to key stakeholders so they feel part of the new future and can help support and drive change.

Getting to know key stakeholders will help new CEOs develop an effective plan

to build the most effective relationships and quickly transform important internal influencers into advocates for their new organization. Vision.

Addressing the following questions is a good next step:

How do I identify key influencers within my new ecosystem?

Where are the real linchpins within the organization, below my leadership team?

What questions should I ask key participants to build my database?

How do I effectively structure a listening tour?

How will I structure my personal story and share my vision for the organization?

 

3. Define Success and Priorities in Detail

New CEOs typically have a high level of alignment with the board and other senior executives on what constitutes success and what the priorities are.

These agreements are often phrased in very general terms, such as «turn around performance» or «drive digital transformation.»

But once new CEOs enter the market, they need a much more detailed understanding of both what success looks like and what to address first.

Taking the time to thoroughly define high-impact business opportunities and their impact on customers, markets, products, systems, structures, and people before acting often increases the speed and effectiveness of the changes CEOs ultimately implement. And this early success is the beginning of building a positive and lasting relationship with the board.

The president and CEO of a healthcare company describes the challenge of his transition: “You are not the CEO who came before you; yet you are compared to the person who came before you. You are seen as either a hope for the desired change or a threat to the status quo. It’s a pressure zone. You need to be deeply involved while managing the expectations of the board and management team, and presenting a plan and a set of recommendations.”

Knowing How to Prioritize Competing Demands

One key to accelerating success is a work plan that helps executives do just that: prioritize competing demands on their time, which includes building trusting relationships with important internal and external stakeholders, developing new skills and capabilities relevant to the new role, managing operational challenges, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the culture, and gathering information on how to develop long-term capabilities that generate competitive advantage.

Balancing these priorities requires an integration playbook that outlines key areas of responsibility and measurable outcomes.

We believe that careful management of the first 100 days is critical to a CEO’s success, as this is when the stakes are highest for both the organization and the new CEO’s reputation. Trying to push through change too aggressively can create organizational resistance, hindering future changes.

 

The 100-Day Playbook should be based on an understanding of the company’s current state and its critical priorities.

In our experience, it works best when it’s evidence-based and includes a current assessment and calibration of the leader, the management team, the culture, and the organization’s suitability to drive the change agenda.

Operational and financial data are, of course, a crucial part of the fact-based plan; new CEOs who have taken the time to understand their companies’ influence structures and conducted a structured listening tour will have the context needed to understand the hard data and develop a more nuanced and, generally, effective plan.

Ideally, the 100-Day Playbook will accelerate the integration of new executives into their new environment, while prioritizing quick wins and long-term strategic capabilities.

Addressing the following questions will help CEOs begin this step:

What are the performance indicators for this position?

How will my performance be evaluated in six months and a year? How (and from whom) will I receive feedback?

How will I orient myself to our markets, customers, and organization?

How will I clarify and manage board expectations?

4. Rapidly mobilize the leadership team

A new CEO frequently makes changes to the leadership team. Our research indicates that most new leaders reshuffle senior management or bring in their own teams: Of the succession announcements made by S&P 500 companies in 2017, 91% indicated that the CEO change would be accompanied by additional changes at the director or senior executive levels.

These changes are logical, especially when a company brings in an outside CEO to manage disruption.

It’s helpful to understand the dynamics and effectiveness of the new leadership team, as Heidrick & Struggles research shows that leadership teams are the least likely to accelerate their ability to mobilize, execute, and transform with agility. In fact, in our study of 3,000 diverse teams at all levels, we found that 12% of management teams are in the bottom quintile of performance, compared to 6% of teams below the C-suite that are in the bottom quintile.

 

 

Organizations have much to gain by quickly mobilizing the C-suite.

The top-performing management teams on the META performance factors (among the 3,000 teams studied) had, on average, a 22.8% greater economic impact than other teams. In other words, they reduced costs more quickly, brought their products to market more effectively, and launched them more smoothly.7

Given the change agenda, new external CEOs must have a baseline understanding of management team performance—both individual and collective skills, as well as the collaborative capabilities required to achieve the team’s unique purpose—and make rapid decisions on how to boost the team’s effectiveness.

 

A financial services CEO describes the challenge this way: “I had to replace some members of my management team and train others. I wasn’t sure where to start or how best to approach it, especially while leading a major acquisition and developing an operational and governance structure.”

One helpful way we’ve seen to accelerate leadership mobilization is to start with an overview of current performance, along with an assessment of the leader and team that includes the perspectives of key stakeholders.

Addressing the following questions will help new external CEOs shape and mobilize their leadership teams:

How will I assess my team’s baseline performance level?

For what business objectives or outcomes are my team members mutually accountable?

How will I determine the composition of my leadership team?

What operating standards do I consider necessary within this team?

Who will support me in developing my team to accelerate performance?

5. Strengthen Culture

Organizational culture is often cited as a key driver of change and a key barrier to execution. Merging two cultures—or, as in the case of new external CEOs, bringing a new way of working into an organization that often requires significant change—makes the cultural challenge exponentially more difficult.

The CEO of a sustainability and energy management company faced an even greater challenge. “As an expatriate CEO newly arrived in the U.S.,” he explains, “I had the dual challenge of adapting to the American cultural dynamics as well as the behavioral norms of the American company I was leading.”

In our experience, everyday patterns of behavior (both cultural strengths and weaknesses) have become so ingrained and automatic that they are rarely questioned. For newly appointed CEOs, when the cultural fit is inadequate, execution can feel like dragging a car with flat tires up a hill.

We call this challenge the “jaws of culture” because dysfunctional cultural habits

such as resistance to change, passive-aggressive behavior, and working in silos can undermine any improvements the new CEO attempts to implement (figure).

This is a key reason why most change efforts struggle; a major study shows that 70% of all change efforts fail to achieve their intended objectives.9

On the other hand, when results are achieved more quickly and easily, healthy, high-performance values ​​and behaviors become embedded in the culture. In research with more than 100 senior executives, we found that leading organizations have a set of definable “core values” that those organizations, teams, and leaders live by. These behaviors, such as a positive attitude, openness to change, and personal accountability, exist in all of us when we are at our best.

 

Organizations that invest in their culture benefit from demonstrating these and other successful behaviors more consistently than other organizations.

Since every company presents a combination of cultural strengths and weaknesses, it is important for new outside CEOs to quickly familiarize themselves with the cultural values, unwritten rules, and informal practices that govern work in their new organization, including the nuances within the subcultures of key business units and functions.

New CEOs will gain insight into the culture from the board and others even before taking office.

However, complementing these informal perspectives with an unbiased cultural assessment conducted through in-depth surveys or interviews and creating a quantitative baseline of organizational and business unit culture will help new CEOs fully understand the reality of the current culture and its impact on the change agenda, as well as monitor performance improvement over time.

According to the CEO of energy and sustainability: “The collective intelligence of my team and the data provided by culture experts helped me quickly understand the pros and cons of my company’s culture. This not only helped me adapt the company’s culture to my change agenda, but also helped me adjust my own leadership and communication style to effectively lead this business.”

Addressing the following questions will provide new CEOs with a cultural foundation:

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current culture?

How do I shape the culture to align with our new strategic direction?

How do I improve high-performance behaviors, such as accountability and collaboration?

How can I better understand the influence of my leadership team?

 

How effective is my organization at executing? Conclusion

Newly appointed leaders risk underperforming unless they and their startups take active steps to address the issues that often hinder the acceleration executives seek.

The initial set of decisions and actions taken by a newly hired CEO will create a brand impact that is difficult to reverse. Therefore, it is important that these initial actions and decisions be carefully planned.

Smart acceleration requires new CEOs to assess and develop themselves to be most effective in their new context; understand their organization’s influencers and culture and how to leverage them for success; develop a detailed, shared understanding of success and priorities; and mobilize their leadership team. Those who take the time to do so are on the path to lasting success.

 

This information has been prepared by OUR EDITORIAL STAFF