Chapter 9 - Navigating the crash: Embrace the inevitable challenges of CEO transition

The New CEO Workbook
A Practical Guide for CEOs to Start Well and Perform Quickly
Created by Ty Wiggins

 

As a new CEO, there will come a point when you will crash, when you will wonder if you’re really up to the challenge—or if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

You will likely have days where you will think, "I'm killing it; I'm born to be CEO." Then, very quickly, you’ll take a couple of knocks, and think, "I cannot do this." This is a common pattern. The reality is that no CEO goes through their transition unscathed.

When you face the inevitable crash, effective navigation strategies can help you:

  • Transform moments of doubt into powerful opportunities for recalibration
  • Draw on your carefully cultivated support network for perspective
  • Reconnect with your core purpose as a leader during difficult times
  • Focus your energy on the responsibilities only you can fulfil
  • Emerge stronger with deeper insight and clearer priorities

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How The New CEO Workbook can help you

As leadership advisors, we've seen every successful CEO face moments of doubt during their transition—it's not whether you'll crash, but how you navigate it. In Chapter 9: Navigating the Crash, we provide frameworks to help you prepare for and work through these inevitable challenges while maintaining your effectiveness.

The exercises, reflections, and guidance in this workbook help you develop strategies to build support systems, and use difficult moments as opportunities to reset assumptions and reconnect with your core purpose as a leader.

Key questions to address when navigating challenges:

  • What gap between expectation and reality is causing unnecessary stress?
  • Who is in your 'kitchen cabinet' of support for difficult moments?
  • How have your personal definitions of success evolved as a leader?
  • Which tasks could be handled by someone else on your team?
  • What percentage of your time is focused on CEO-level responsibilities versus other activities?

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  Ty Wiggins

About the Author

Ty Wiggins, PhD is a leadership expert passionate about setting up new CEOs for success. As the global lead for Russell Reynolds Associates' CEO & Transitions Practice, he helps world-leading CEOs successfully transition into their roles to unlock business (and personal) success—faster.

Ty is one of only a handful of people globally with a Ph.D. in leadership transitions. He harnesses his deep academic and consulting background to provide CEOs, boards, and senior leadership with the advice, support, and insight needed to start well and perform quickly.

 

 

 

Get advice on your transition

Every CEO faces moments when the role feels bigger than they are. The difference between those who thrive and those who struggle lies in preparation and perspective. You need systems to identify warning signs, a network for support, and strategies to reconnect with purpose when challenges mount. Connect with one of our trusted advisors to develop the resilience that will carry you through the inevitable storms of CEO transition.

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Also Available: Order your copy of The New CEO

Cover book  

Based on original research and candid conversations with CEOs from Verizon, PepsiCo, Campbell's, UPS, Whirlpool, and more, The New CEO: Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly (Minus the Common Mistakes) examines how world-leading CEOs approach their first year in the role.

Discover their successes, their missteps, and the important lessons they learned along the way.

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The New CEO Workbook:
A practical guide for CEOs to start well and perform quickly

Fill out the form to download Chapter 9: Navigating the crash