Between three and five years into their tenure, the best CEOs leverage their experience and adopt an outsider’s perspective to launch the next performance S-curve for their company. The S-curve represents the lifecycle of a strategy: slow initial progress, rapid growth from accumulated initiatives, followed by a plateau once major value is realized. Successfully aligning the organization to this next phase is challenging.
Drawing from interviews with 83 high-performing CEOs of the world’s largest companies, the key insight is that top CEOs act as catalysts for ongoing change, constantly pushing from within to avoid bureaucratic stagnation. Notable leaders like Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan emphasize the need to fight complacency and empower employees by shifting focus from external demands to internal capabilities.
Effective CEOs co-create strategies rather than dictate them, engaging teams collaboratively to harness the “lottery ticket effect,” which boosts ownership and commitment. This approach unlocks creativity and drives bold, customer-focused initiatives, exemplified by leaders like Herbert Hainer at Adidas and Maurice Lévy at Publicis.
Strategy alone isn’t enough; driving change requires reshaping organizational structures, rotating leadership roles, and adapting leadership styles midtenure. CEOs like Ramon Laguarta and Shantanu Narayen transformed their companies by integrating divisions and taking more decisive actions, while others like Hubert Joly decentralized decision-making to sustain growth.
The middle years of a CEO’s tenure are critical to maintaining momentum, creating successive growth curves, and ensuring the organization avoids complacency. This ongoing renewal is vital not only for CEOs but all leaders seeking sustained success.
