So why do they stumble? The answer lies in the critical risks that often appear during the transition period—an executive's first 12 to 18 months in role. These pitfalls aren't always about competence. They're about the failure to recognize how dramatically the rules of leadership change at the enterprise level.
The good news? With foresight and intentional support, CHROs can dramatically increase the odds of success for new executives. The CHRO’s role is to architect the conditions that make adaptation possible, ensuring leaders have the insight, support, and feedback mechanisms to thrive.
Here, we explore the top transition risks facing new executives—and how CHROs can mitigate them to ensure long-term success.
Many new executives underestimate the extent of change that comes with joining the C-suite. They recognize the bigger title, the broader scope, and the higher visibility—but not the fundamental shift in how leadership operates. They believe they’re doing a bigger job, not a different job.
The reality is that moving from expert to enterprise leader requires a fundamental redefinition of identity. Many new executives discover that what once made them successful—their mastery, decisiveness, and direct command—no longer fits the scale or scope of their new role.
This shift can be destabilizing. Confidence, once rooted in competence, must now come from judgment and the ability to navigate ambiguity. It’s not unusual for new executives to experience a quiet form of imposter syndrome, questioning their credibility and second-guessing their instincts.
Without support, some leaders overcompensate—asserting authority too forcefully to prove they belong. Others retreat into the comfort of their functional domain, relying on familiar playbooks or skills instead of developing new ones.
Psychometric assessments can clarify what’s required to thrive at the enterprise level and highlight potential derailers before they surface. These insights provide a foundation for structured development programs that help leaders amplify their strengths, adjust behaviors, and build the versatility needed to succeed in the C-suite.
Executive coaching and facilitated peer forums can also give new leaders the space and language to examine how their leadership identity is changing—including what they need to leave behind, what they want to keep, and what new behaviors and mindsets the enterprise now demands for long-term success.
The CEO relationship can make or break a new executive’s early impact. Many overestimate how well they understand what the CEO values—or how critical every interaction becomes.
Misjudging the CEO’s priorities, decision style, or appetite for detail can quickly erode trust. A leader who fails to align on what matters most risks being seen as unreliable or out of sync. If trust is not actively built, everything else becomes harder. When the CEO starts questioning an executive’s judgment or follow-through, even sound strategies lose traction.
Trust must be earned through transparency, reliability, and judgment—and reinforced through consistency over time. The leaders who succeed learn to anticipate the CEO’s perspective, communicate with clarity, and bring solutions, not surprises.
A new C-suite executive’s relationship with the CEO requires a level of judgment and communication that few leaders have practiced before. The CHRO can play a decisive role in setting this relationship up for success.
Arrange support that helps executives master communication at the right altitude—concise, transparent, and oriented to strategic value. Early alignment sessions with the CEO can also clarify working style, cadence, and expectations, preventing misunderstandings that undermine trust. Encourage open dialogue about what “no surprises” really means in practice.
Integration into the top team is one of the hardest parts of a C-suite transition—and one of the most underestimated. C-suite teams are complex ecosystems with their own rhythms, unspoken norms, and power dynamics. How the CEO runs meetings, how conflict is handled, and which issues are truly shared all shape the environment a new leader is walking into. Without understanding those dynamics, even highly capable executives can misstep—either by staying too narrowly in their lane or by overreaching into others’.
Whether an executive is promoted internally or hired externally, integration requires intentional work—not just time—to build understanding, alignment, and shared accountability. Without peer trust, even brilliant strategies stall.
CHROs play a critical role in ensuring that new executives integrate effectively into the top team—and that the existing team is equally prepared to receive them. Integration doesn’t happen organically; it must be designed.
Facilitated offsites can help build trust, structured alignment sessions can help to clarify shared purpose and decision-making norms, and cohort coaching can strengthen dynamics between key interdependent roles (e.g. CFO-COO-CMO).
Stepping into the C-suite dramatically broadens the stakeholder landscape. Leaders must now balance multiple audiences: the board, investors, regulators, customers, and employees—all with conflicting priorities. Without careful calibration, they risk losing focus or credibility.
What worked when managing a single function—deep expertise, clear metrics, predictable cycles—becomes insufficient when navigating the competing demands of enterprise leadership. Every stakeholder group has different expectations, different timelines, and different definitions of success.
The danger is trying to satisfy everyone equally. Leaders who spread themselves too thin lose strategic focus. Those who prioritize the wrong stakeholders lose credibility where it matters most.
Invest in development work that helps new leaders develop systems thinking—seeing how relationships, decisions, and dynamics interconnect. By mapping this landscape early on, new leaders will understand who shapes outcomes, how to engage them, and where potential friction points lie. Early introductions and thoughtful communication support also build trust quickly and help leaders establish credibility across multiple audiences.
Culture functions like an invisible operating system. It determines how decisions get made, what behaviors are rewarded, and what (and who) earns credibility. Leaders who ignore these dynamics—or assume they can override them—can create friction, coming across as out of sync with how the organization truly works.
The problem is especially acute for external hires who may carry assumptions from previous organizations that no longer apply. What worked in their last role may be precisely the wrong approach in this one.
But internal hires are not immune either. For them, the challenge is less about the organization’s culture and more about the distinct culture of the top team—often faster-paced, more political, and less forgiving than the environments they’ve known.
For external hires, help new executives succeed by giving them an accurate picture of the culture they are walking into—how it truly operates, not how it’s described. Cultural diagnostics, employee listening, and leadership interviews reveal the real patterns. This insight equips incoming leaders to understand where the culture is strong, where it may resist change, and how their own behavior will reinforce or reshape it.
For internal promotions, focus on decoding the culture of the top team itself. Facilitate conversations about team dynamics, decision rhythms, and unwritten expectations to accelerate understanding of “how things really get done.”
The pressure to prove oneself early can drive new executives to chase visible quick wins. While these may generate short-term credibility, they often sacrifice alignment and sustainability. Early overreach—acting before understanding—can alienate teams and peers.
New leaders want to demonstrate value, justify the organization's investment, and establish credibility quickly. But not all wins are created equal. Some build momentum. Others create resentment.
The danger is solving the wrong problems. Leaders who act before they listen often fix symptoms while missing root causes. They generate activity without lasting impact—and burn political capital in the process.
There are, of course, exceptions. When the CEO explicitly calls for early results—as part of a broader top-team push to deliver rapid progress—it can be the right move. The difference lies in intent and alignment: a quick win pursued with shared understanding strengthens credibility; one pursued in isolation risks eroding it.
Successful transitions take time. The most effective CHROs know the difference between onboarding and transition. And they treat an executive's first 12 to 18 months as a journey requiring ongoing structured support.
Ongoing reflection and recalibration—through structured check-ins and sustained development work with a coach or a mentor who has faced similar challenges—can keep the leader focused on long-term effectiveness rather than short-term wins. Ultimately, credibility is built over time, not declared on day one.
After years of success, some leaders believe that reaching the C-suite confirms they've "made it" and mastered leadership. That confidence can quickly turn into complacency, making them less open to feedback and learning.
“Arrival syndrome” manifests in subtle ways. Leaders stop asking questions. They prioritize delivery over development. They trust their instincts over input from others. Having worked so hard to reach the top, they assume the learning curve is behind them.
The paradox is that the higher you go, the steeper the learning curve becomes (and the more humility you need). The complexity expands, the context shifts faster, and the consequences of misjudgment multiply. Leaders who stop learning stop growing—and in a role defined by volatility and ambiguity, stagnation is the most reliable predictor of failure.
Encourage executives to view the C-suite as an environment that demands continual learning, not a reward for past success. Curiosity and adaptability are the leadership muscles that sustain performance at this level—enabling leaders to absorb new information, question assumptions, and pivot as the landscape shifts. Invest in development programs that deliberately build these capabilities, ensuring leaders understand the advantage of embarking on a continuous learning journey.
Not every new executive will have direct exposure to the board—but for those who do, the adjustment can be significant. Many underestimate how different the board’s role is from the executive team’s. The board doesn’t run the business; it governs it.
Like the CEO, the board operates at a different altitude than new executives are used to. Directors care about strategy, risk, and long-term value—not operational details. Leaders who bring the wrong level of information lose credibility. Those who avoid the board entirely lose visibility and influence.
The challenge isn’t always mismanaging the dynamic—it’s misunderstanding what the board needs from them, and what they should (and shouldn’t) expect in return.
For first-time board-facing executives, clarity is power. CHROs can set them up for success by making the board’s purpose, composition, and expectations explicit—and by helping them calibrate what “good” looks like in that setting.
Coaching should focus on framing issues through an enterprise lens, speaking succinctly to strategic implications, and reading the tone of the room. Observing a board meeting or rehearsing with the CEO can accelerate learning. When executives understand the board’s true role, they show up as informed partners, not functional specialists.
Internal promotions can create subtle but powerful tensions. A newly appointed C-suite leader now manages people who were once equals—colleagues who know their habits, their strengths, and their blind spots. That familiarity can blur boundaries and complicate authority if not addressed directly.
Former peers may feel overlooked or resentful, particularly if they were also candidates for the role. Others may test limits, unsure how the new hierarchy will work.
Meanwhile, the promoted leader faces an emotional balancing act—preserving relationships while asserting authority. It tests a new leader’s emotional and social intelligence.
The danger lies at either extreme. Overcompensation—asserting dominance too quickly—can fracture trust. Avoidance—delaying tough calls to protect old friendships—erodes credibility. The relationships must evolve, and that evolution requires intentionality.
Investing in transition coaching focused on re-contracting relationships can help newly promoted leaders have early, open dialogue about changed roles and expectations—and provide frameworks to support difficult conversations and tough calls. Similarly, leadership assessments can help the new leader see clearly and act decisively.
Heather Blonkenfeld is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Development Practice. She is based in San Francisco and Boston.
Nic Cutts is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Development Practice. He is based in Dubai.
Jennifer Flock is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Development Practice. She is based in Paris.
Mike Krivan is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Development Practice. He is based in Chicago.
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