NeXt - Board Edition | July 2026

As AI becomes part of everyday work, the critical question you face as CEO is whether your organization’s AI adoption is translating into real business value.

In this month’s edition of NeXt, we share why a gap is emerging between AI adoption and value creation—and how to close it.

We also share why the COO role is becoming more central to transformation and whether LLMs produce biased statements about CEOs.

In this edition:

01 How to Manage Underperforming Leaders in Family Enterprises

02 Global Chief Operating Officer Turnover Index

03 How The Story Gets Told: Do LLMs Produce Biased Statements About CEOs?

04 Leadership Lounge: How to Succeed as an Interim CEO

05 Gaining Decision Leverage with CEO Progression: What CEOs Need to Know

Big Data

+23

The net addition of COO roles at the world’s largest public companies in Q1 2026.

The COO role continues to gain importance at the top of the organization. We explore what’s driving this shift—and how CEOs can approach COO succession as the mandate expands across transformation, AI, productivity, and operating model change.

Dig into the data

Leadership Lounge

A new CEO usually gets a honeymoon from the board and that honeymoon can be up to two years, sometimes more. An interim CEO gets a stopwatch.

- Justus O'Brien | Leadership Advisor, Russell Reynolds Associates

Interim CEO appointments are on the rise, but the role comes with very different expectations. In our latest Leadership Lounge episode, our advisors explore how interim CEOs can clarify their mandate, build trust quickly, and create momentum under compressed timelines.

Listen here