The imperfect CEO

Viewed in Russell Reynolds Justus O’Brien and Dean Stamoulis, Managing Directors at Russell Reynolds Associates, advocate for leaders to embrace their imperfections and vulnerabilities in order to lead with greater effectiveness. Complexities and uncertainties The traditional ideal of a flawless CEO fails to acknowledge the complexities and uncertainties of leadership in today’s rapidly changing world…. More

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How CEOs Make Complex Decisions—Even When They Don’t Have All the Intel

Viewed in Russell Reynolds With dozens of offices in over two dozen countries, it is fair to say that management consulting firm Russell Reynolds, founded in 1969, interacts with a vast number of chief executive officers. The management consulting behemoth observes in this article, authored by five Russell Reynolds professionals, that the demands on today’s… More

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When Performance Declines: The Case for Acting Fast on CEO Intervention

Viewed in Spencer Stuart Global executive search firm Spencer Stuart’s expertise in executive and board searches is pretty much beyond reproach. Since its 1956 founding, it has grown to 57 offices in 30 countries and handled executive and board searches for some of global business’s most iconic brands (and even the U.S. government). Now in… More

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A playbook for newly minted private equity portfolio-company CEOs

Viewed in McKinsey & Company The role of a chief executive officer in the 21st century is a challenging one. Looking for something even more challenging? That likely would be serving as a CEO for a private equity-owned portfolio company. More private equity-owned companies With private equity’s growing prevalence in corporate ownership, it is a… More

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Four New Reasons for CEO Succession Planning

Viewed in Spencer Stuart One of the many crucial roles of the corporate board is the successful management of CEO succession planning, and the task is becoming more complicated and more urgent in our evolving corporate world. Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s leading executive search firms, has long been a thought leader on this… More

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Crisis Put CEO Successions on Hold in 2020. Expect a Rebound in 2021.

Viewed in Spencer Stuart As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its second year, one thing is abundantly clear: Not much is moving quickly, and much has slowed down. The traditional office environment has been disrupted, and so have the traditional business processes, including succession for corporate chief executives. CEO transitions fell in 2020 In this report… More

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14 CEOs on how to reopen businesses in the coronavirus economy

Viewed in Fortune. The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted vast damage on the global economy. Equally concerning, if history is any guide, this damage is not over yet. During the Spanish flu of 1918, for instance, it was the second wave of infections that ultimately proved the most deadly and damaging. This history has given rise… More

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Navigating the rising tide of uncertainty

Viewed in pwc.com. PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) is the second largest professional services firm in the world. The range of their interactions with companies and these companies’ leadership is vast, which makes their reports hugely valuable contributions to public knowledge of trends in the corporate world and in the economy as a whole. PwC’s annual survey… More

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The rise of the outsider CEO

Viewed in The Wall Street Journal There are many things about business and recruiting that do not change year to year. But Wall Street Journal business columnist John D. Stoll writes in this column about one clearly demonstrable and important change: More and more companies are turning to the world outside of their respective companies… More

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The CEO life cycle

Viewed in Harvard Business Review When a team of researchers from executive search giant Spencer Stuart set out to assess the world’s best performing CEOs, they assembled a boat load of data on 747 S&P 500 chief executive officers, including shareholder return for each CEO’s company and an abundant amount of demographic and other intriguing… More

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The CEO 100, 2019 Edition

Viewed in Harvard Business Review The business world is comprised on an abundant number of companies. Some are run by very high profile chief executive officers (CEOs) whose names have become synonymous with high-level business performance of iconic businesses with household brand identity. Others, of course, are less known. Yet very few efforts have been… More

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Among today’s most prized leadership qualities: Playing nicely

Viewed in The Wall Street Journal. The rise to the top of a corporation, as nearly any corporate executive can attest, is hugely competitive. The reality is that, when it comes to securing CEO roles, there are vastly greater numbers of aspirants than there are openings. Logic dictates that this competitiveness might lead some aspirants… More

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Seven steps to a more strategic board: What CEOs need to know

Viewed in Deloitte Insights. How much do we really know about what makes a successful corporate board of directors? To be sure, we could stand to know more. In an effort to add to this knowledge base, Deloitte initiated 50 conversations with Fortune 1000 CEOs about their perspective on corporate boards. A few themes emerged:… More

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Companies Hunt for CEOs with High EQ and Humility

Viewed in The Times of India. What attributes do companies seek in their most senior executive? The answer to that question is evolving, particularly as companies increasingly see value in several prominent soft skills, including humility, humanity, humor and hope. The search for these executives reflects a growing recognition that inclusion and consensus-building are key… More

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