A Decade of New CEOs:
Looking Back to Look Ahead

The experience

A Chief Executive Transition Lab is a confidential, one-on-one, facilitated session for a CEO. Participants use the experience to articulate their vision, set their strategy, evaluate their team, assess their relationships with stakeholders, and refine their leadership style. Over the last 10 years, we have facilitated these experiences for hundreds of leaders in every industry.

When asked about the value of the experience, the CEO of a consumer products company shared, “At this level, you don't take the day to sit back and reflect. This is time to talk about what I want to do versus what is standing in my way.”

Another CEO, of an industrial products company, explained the impact of the day saying, “What we did today is not only big picture thinking, but also cutting down all the layers of what to really get done.” The meaningful connection we build with CEOs through the Transition Lab has produced a rich collection of insights.

Looking back: Lessons learned

Clearly, all CEOs are different. They face a variety of challenges, lead varied organizations, maintain their own leadership style, and have different paths to their role. However, through our hundreds of Chief Executive Transition Labs, we have found three overarching strategies that, when recognized from the start, tend to set CEOs up for success.

Maintain your humanity

Despite high levels of interaction with people, we often hear from the CEOs we work with that others don’t always view them as human. People expect them to perform at a superhuman level, defying intense pressures and extreme expectations. “A CEO is also a person,” explained Vincent Firth, co-founder and co-leader of the Chief Executive Program. “One of my most memorable Labs was with a CEO who came from very little. He was coming to terms with what it meant for him to be a CEO and how transformative it was for him personally, his family, and the community he came from. It was so powerful that it caused him to weep.”

Situations like these are a potent reminder that chief executives are also humans with experiences, and it is precisely this humanity that can make them high-impact leaders. Deloitte’s 2024 Global Human Capital Trends emphasized the importance of cultivating uniquely human capabilities—such as curiosity, emotional intelligence, or resilience—across the workforce as well as the C-suite, and these qualities will always be in demand for future leaders.

Articulate and share your story – especially if you’re new to the role

Sharing their own story is a powerful tool for CEOs to define their identity and vision for their stakeholders, team, board, and employees. We work with new and seasoned executives as they articulate their own story as a leader and become comfortable sharing it with various audiences.

“I led a Transition Lab with a new CEO whose organization was facing some challenges early in her tenure,” shared Brett Weinberg, experience director for the Chief Executive Program. “She asked to zero-in on the part of the day focused on storytelling. With the varied dynamics she was navigating at the time with her board, leadership team, employees, and the investment community, she knew she had to be clear about where she was going as a leader and why. As she began to clarify her own message and how to communicate it, she became more energized about the opportunities she saw ahead for the organization.”

Whether new to the organization or promoted from within, it is crucial for others to understand how the CEO sees themselves and how they will lead. In fact, communicating with their internal audience is one of the top priorities mentioned by the CEOs we work with.

The power of storytelling can unlock a clear path forward, catalyzing alignment around the CEO's vision and stories themselves are more likely to resonate and stick with individuals. Next-generation CEOs can particularly benefit from storytelling as they prepare to share how they would shape the future of their organization.

Focus on what you, and only you, can do

While we have observed that a CEO’s core responsibilities have remained relatively constant over the past decade, the pressures on the CEO’s time have intensified. Today, CEOs face unprecedented internal and external demands. Given their limited time, CEOs must think critically about how they allocate it, focusing on only what they alone can do.

We see setting a strategy and amplifying that message as two of the most important priorities. Setting a strategy is the "what." CEOs can articulate the vision and determine the right approach for the organization to thrive. Amplifying the message is the "how." CEOs can lead the realization of their vision by socializing their message, focusing on growth objectives, and creating a high-performance culture. “Ultimately, the CEO is responsible for these jobs,” explained Benjamin Finzi, co-founder and co-leader of the Chief Executive Program.