Russell Reynolds Associates Launches New Advisory Capability to Address the Leadership Gap in Business Transformation

DUBAI, September 18th, 2025 — Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), the leading global leadership advisory firm, has launched Strategy Decode and Activation, a distinctive advisory capability that positions CEO and C-suite leadership as the central driver of successful business transformation.

The new capability addresses a critical market need, as research shows 75% of business transformation efforts fail, primarily due to leadership execution gaps rather than strategic design flaws. This launch comes at a time of unprecedented urgency, as organizations grapple with rapid technological shifts, evolving market dynamics and the imperative to transform faster than ever before.

“Most organizations know why they need to transform, but few know how – or have the leaders who can make it happen,” said Marie-Osmonde Le Roy de Lanauze-Molines, Board and CEO Leadership Advisor at RRA. “Strategy Decode and Activation is RRA’s answer to the leadership execution gap that derails so many transformations. RRA helps CEOs and C-suites not just design strategy, but activate it – building the adaptive, enterprise-wide leadership needed to turn vision into results. In the Middle East, where the pace of change is relentless, the RRA team’s deep regional insight ensures transformation isn’t just a plan but a lived reality that drives growth and resilience.”

RRA’s expanding Middle East office, based in Dubai, includes specialists across a range of sectors from technology to aviation to family offices.

As the Middle East adapts to the energy transition, responds to trade fluctuations and pursues a leadership role in artificial intelligence, RRA specialists are partnering with organizations across the region to accelerate transformation and growth. Leveraging deep expertise in board advisory, executive search and leadership assessment and development, RRA advises leaders in every major industry and function. RRA’s collaborative approach – combining local insight with a global perspective – ensures clients are positioned for success at home and abroad. With the IMF forecasting the region’s growth to outpace the global outlook this year and next, RRA is committed to helping clients seize emerging opportunities and navigate complexity with confidence.

The strategy execution divide

Organizations consistently face the same fundamental dilemma: understanding the “why” and “what” of strategic change while struggling with the “how” and “who” of implementation. Below are five key challenges identified in detail by RRA’s H1 2025 Global Leadership Monitor:

1. Adapting to continuous change: Only 47% of CEOs proactively anticipate change and strategically plan transformation with long-term outcomes
2. Strategy and strategic leadership disconnect: Organizations separate strategy-making from strategy-doing
3. Evolution of leadership practice: Traditional command-and-control leadership no longer works at today's pace of change
4. Gen AI readiness: While 82% of leaders agree Gen AI skills are essential for C-suite success, only 41% feel confident implementing it effectively
5. Shifting to enterprise leadership: Moving beyond hub-and-spoke systems to collaborative, cross-functional leadership models

RRA's Strategy Decode and Activation approach recognizes that even the most comprehensive transformation vision fails without leaders who can decode complex change, align teams around new directions and sustain momentum through inevitable resistance.

Market impact and availability

The Strategy Decode and Activation capability is available immediately to organizations across all industries and geographies, including the Middle East. RRA's collaborative approach ensures transformations succeed because leaders truly own and can execute them, creating lasting change that becomes part of organizational DNA. RRA equips leaders to drive the urgent, impactful transformations essential for thriving in today's dynamic landscape.

To learn more information about Strategy Decode and Activation from RRA’s Middle East team, click here.

Media Contact

Sarah Carlyle, Marketing Director EMEA

sarah.carlyle@russellreynolds.com