We help CEOs maximize their impact in the main elements of their job: setting the strategy, aligning the organization, leading the top team, working with the board, being the face of the company to external stakeholders, and managing their own time and energy. We draw on our rigorous proprietary research and insights, and our experience helping thousands of CEOs, to determine how high-performing CEOs think and act differently from others. Our robust toolkit supports CEOs in achieving excellence throughout their tenure: preparing for the role, transitioning into the role, maximizing their mid-tenure trajectory, and handing off to a successor while planning for their next ambition. We combine the best experts from McKinsey as well as from industry and academia to share cutting-edge insights and tools.
CEO candidate preparation
We partner with executives aspiring to become CEO – ranging from those new to the C-suite to those actively in the running – by helping them develop their skills, leadership style, and personal operating model so that they are well prepared to prioritize their efforts and demonstrate proof points that they are ready for the next level. We also work with the CEO and board to establish a rigorous succession planning process.
CEO transition and onboarding
We support new CEO transition planning, from strategic aspiration-setting and developing the CEO’s transformation agenda, to the tactics of planning the first 100 days. Other areas of focus include building a high performing executive team, creating organizational alignment, fostering board and other stakeholder relationships, and managing one’s own personal operating model. Throughout, we bring CEOs from multiple organizations together for in-person learning, exploration, and development, as well as provide practical playbooks, tools, and insights to make their first few months in role a jumping off point to success in their tenure as CEO.
CEO succession planning
We work with the board and incumbent CEO to establish a rigorous succession planning process; provide playbooks, tools, and insights to enable a successful transition planning and execution phase, and prepare the incumbent CEO for their next ambition.
CEO counseling and advisory
We help CEOs of all tenures excel across all elements of their role, including corporate strategy, organizational alignment, team and processes, board engagement, stakeholder management, and personal working norms. Our confidential and personalized individual CEO counseling, thought partnership, and perspectives on a company’s performance help to unlock heightened performance.
CEO-led large-scale transformation support
For CEOs in situations that require shaping and leading a large-scale transformation, we help them think about the overall aspiration, the high-impact change model they need to enable it, the role of both the CEO and top team in the transformation, and we help align and mobilize the organization to carry it out.
