McKinsey Classics | January 2024

The strategic moves behind successful new CEOs

It’s the start of a new year, and you’re a new CEO. Aside from tackling that enduring list of resolutions that you absolutely intend to keep this year (for real this time), you have something else to consider: the performance of the company you are now leading. And the moves you make at the outset will greatly determine your odds of success. The stakes are high, and the window of opportunity is relatively brief. What’s a new CEO to do?

In our experience, fortune favors the bold. CEOs who made multiple moves early on at poorly performing companies fared far better than their less intrepid counterparts. But moves alone won’t quite get you there. Also crucial is adopting an outsider’s mindset. External hires—who have a greater propensity to act and are less encumbered by legacy obstacles—typically have an edge over their internally promoted counterparts. But you needn’t be an outsider to act like one. Internal hires who can sidestep company politics and reset expectations can be just as successful as even the best external hires.

The business arena has only gotten more complex, more volatile, and more intense in the eight years since Michael Birshan, Thomas Meakin, and Kurt Strovink’s 2016 classic, “How new CEOs can boost their odds of success.” Let these lessons guide you in the new year and your new tenure.

— Drew Holzfeind, editor, Chicago