#ArchitectsofProsperity

CEOs: Architectsof Prosperity

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Contents
CEOs: Architectsof Prosperity

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Navigating a
World in Flux

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Time to Openthe Doors

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Perform andTransform

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#ArchitectsofProsperity

The Powerof Relationships

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Reconnecting with
Our Humanity

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The Adaptive
CEO24

#ArchitectsofProsperity

CEOs: Architectsof Prosperity
In Catalonia, on the outskirts of Barcelona, stands
an extraordinary structure. With towers andarches that echo traditional regional architecture,buzzing interconnected workspaces, and lush
greenery spilling from courtyards and rooftops, thecomplex seems part workshop, part cathedral, partplayground. But the site was not always burstingwith such vitality. In 1973, when young architect
Ricardo Bofill first spotted it, this abandoned
cement factory was a polluted ruin. Bofill, though,saw opportunity: a space for the diverse team he
was putting together—engineers, mathematicians,
planners, philosophers, artists, and filmmakers—to
grow, learn and build. The firm, which came to be
known as the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura,established its head office on the site and proceeded
to revitalize and reinvent it, selectively demolishing,restoring, and adding to the structure, as
Bofill guided his team towards a brilliant
creative synthesis.
La Fábrica (The Workshop), where Bofill now lives
and works, is globally successful and endlesslytransforming. In many ways, it embodies the firm’s
approach: reinventing processes and employing
new technologies, evolving to meet emerging
needs, while remaining grounded in its values;a place of multiple perspectives, profoundly

adaptable, winning business across many countries.
As Bofill works to sustain and strengthen his
company, balancing hard business expectations
with emerging market and social needs, his vision
radiates to transform communities; his team has
created work that brings large-scale benefit, frominnovative social housing projects to the National
Theatre of Catalonia. In his projects, Bofill aims not
to transcend humanity, but rather to keep people
always in mind: “to encompass,” as the firm states,“the human experience.”
In this era of global uncertainty, businesses are facedwith disrupted models and rapid change. Companies
find themselves increasingly entangled in social
issues, and are expected to work on solutions thatcreate prosperity in all aspects: “people, profit,
planet.” It is a time for CEOs to recognize their roles
as architects of this new milieu, with a chance to planand build something not unlike La Fábrica: resilient,transformative, and generative of value for the many.

Companies find themselves
increasingly entangled in social issues,
and are expected to work on solutions
that create prosperity in all aspects:“people, profit, planet.”

This opportunity presents itself against a challenging
landscape. To succeed, CEOs need to embrace achanging world and a changing role, and be ready totransform themselves and their organizations.
Egon Zehnder is pleased to present a series of articles
offering insights into exactly these leadershipchallenges and opportunities, of special interest to
current and aspiring Chief Executives and Boards.
These narratives draw on our extensive global
work with more than 2,000 CEOs in all sectors
over the past five years, as well as our services
advising the Boards that appoint CEOs. We reflect
on transformative work that our colleagues havebeen privileged to undertake with top executives,and describe their thorny challenges, their flashes ofinspiration, their stumbles—in short, the milestoneson their paths to creating prosperity for all theirstakeholders, as well as the scope and aims of
their organizations.
Along the way, you will meet some of the great
leaders we’ve walked beside; people who haveinspired us, and from whom we have learnt. We willtell the story of Mateo, whose deep experience inmanufacturing and decades of success didn’t prevent
him from floundering in a shifting economy andsociety; Tara, who rebranded her restaurants for a
new world; Daniel, who realized just in time thatbeing a high-performance executive, well polishedin business school, was not enough to guide a
multinational firm through turbulent waters; andJan, who shed an initial hesitancy in the CEO role tounleash a far-reaching transformation.
Others will feature too: Lukas, who marked his riseto CEO by urging his senior people to become Chief
Executives in their own right, and established strong
bonds beyond the common set of stakeholders;Beth, who shook off a long-held conception ofbusiness leadership and learnt to connect; andRaj, who surprised us with his power to adapt,
founded on listening. We will describe warriors

and visionaries of business, men and women whotransformed themselves, stretching their own
performance and that of their firms; who had thecourage and imagination to see their relationships tostakeholders as gateways to prosperity, rather thanburdens—and who stayed alert, always adapting.

The world is changing—and sois the CEO’s role
We are living in a world where geopoliticalpower is shifting to new centers, causing massive
uncertainties; traditional boundaries of influence
and responsibility are dissolving; technology istransforming every industry; and individuals, groups
and institutions are ever more interconnected andinterdependent. For business leaders, this means that
their enterprises are embedded in new and elaborate
systems, calling for a different view of stakeholders.
Globalization has not eradicated challenges: oursocio-political landscape is polarized, exposingsocial unrest, alienation, and distrust of the statusquo. Yet we have the most educated population theworld has ever seen, increased access to clean water,
less infant mortality, greater awareness of mentalhealth issues, and many other powerful marksof progress. We are also experiencing the fourthindustrial revolution as it radically alters the work ofindividuals and organizations. In short, the world isunavoidably complex.

Businesses now are increasingly expected
to use their influence as a lasting force
for good.
Against this landscape, it is unsurprising thatbusiness leaders are facing a new set of expectations
from their stakeholders. Businesses now have farreaching impact, in some cases exceeding even thatof governments, and are increasingly expected touse their influence as a lasting force for good beyond

5the realm of profits and traditional corporate socialresponsibility programs. This pressure is mounting
from all sides, and is reflected in the rise of ethicalconsumerism, impact investing, the expectation thatbusiness leaders take a stand on social issues, anddemand for work that is not only securebut meaningful.
In this context, the role of the CEO has grown andevolved. Working with the momentum imparted bycurrent events, from crises of public health, societies,
economies and the environment, to technologicaland business-model disruptions, CEOs must design
and build the future while generating value forshareholders and a wide range of stakeholders.

CEOs must design and build the future
while generating value for shareholders
and a wide range of stakeholders.
A CEO must recognize the interconnectedness ofthese seemingly disparate objectives: performancerequires transformation, and profit for the many is
profit for the business. Integrating broad prosperity
into the business model presents novel situations
beyond traditional stakeholder management.
Maintaining financial performance while serving
as a force for good requires not only growthand keeping an eye on the bottom line, but also
sometimes elevating one’s sight towards the prospectof unexpected opportunities

Architects of a new era
CEOs, and the Boards of Directors with whomthey work, are coming to recognize that while theexperience and talents of a Chief Executive arestill essential, they are no longer enough to secure
success. Most CEOs will have sharpened their skills
in a previous era, modeling their leadership style
on an earlier archetype, developed in different
circumstances. To be effective in complex and

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uncertain times, CEOs must be ready for anambitious dual journey of professional and personalreflection and development, while leading andinspiring their teams to embark on the same.

CEOs must be ready for an ambitious
dual journey of professional andpersonal reflection and development.
CEOs are being called on to step up as architectsof this new era, designing businesses that are
innovative, resilient, and responsive to theirenvironments. This requires leaders to be self-aware,
relational, and adaptive—a set of qualities that are
not independent, but stand strongly together inmutual support.
Self-awareness is a rigorous and disciplined
commitment to being conscious of one’s stage on
the journey, and to continued learning and personal
growth. This involves constant attention to our
motives and behavior, as well as how these radiate
to transform our business and teams. CEOs mustfind a delicate balance between self-confidence andmindfulness, always aware of their own limitations.
Rather than taking themselves to have reached
the terminal point of professional and personal
development, CEOs should have the courage andhumility to regard their own appointment as a
midpoint of their journey, remaining eager to makechanges that boost their leadershipand effectiveness.
Along with self-awareness, CEOs must cultivate andexpand their relationships with genuine openness
and boldness, harnessing the collective power ofdiverse team members and stakeholders to fuel theirorganization and elevate its performance.
Realizing a relational orientation requires learning
new ways of listening and communicating: withcuriosity, humility, empathy, and authenticity. Theseskills allow a CEO to cultivate a “first among equals”
relationship with their Board and teams,
expanding their self- and organizational awarenessby inviting inspiration and insights from diverse
perspectives, including responses to their own
leadership. Treating these relationships as
sacrosanct, defined by mutual trust and respect,
will prove essential to CEOs hoping to propel theirorganizations’ transformation and performancethrough an increasingly complex landscape.
This relational approach must extend beyond a
company’s conventional stakeholders. A CEO shouldseek out new and uncommon alliances acrossorganizations and sectors, seeing these entities asvalue creators and pillars of collective strength,
offering new opportunities and unique points ofview to enrich institutional judgement. As leaders
adopt a relational orientation, an older archetype—
the “hero” CEO, who stands alone as the head of ahierarchy—is gradually becoming obsolete.
Undeniably, commitment to a relational orientationis challenging. Relational CEOs must be perceptive
enough to sense which relationships can benefit
their business and broadly promote prosperity, andthen astute enough to realize these advantages.

In an era of rapid transitions, CEOs
who can remain clear-sighted andadaptive will be innovative architects ofoutstanding business performance.
In an era of rapid transitions, CEOs who can remain
clear-sighted and adaptive will be innovativearchitects of outstanding business performance.
They will be bold and creative, honoring valuable
traditions while forging new strategies with benefits
that ripple out beyond the organization.

These CEOs, especially if relational and selfaware, will use their unique vantage, enriched byinsight from their team and stakeholders, to grasp
genuine opportunities, as well as to meet or bypass
challenges. They will recognize that apparent
polarities between people and profit, if synthesized
creatively, can be engines of value instead ofproblems to be solved. And they will travel the tricky
adaptive path from old to new models of operation,
inspiring their organizations and navigating themthrough the transition.
Flexibility involves openness, an unquenchable
appetite for learning, visionary foresight to predict
future challenges and opportunities, and an ability
to tap into institutional strengths and origin stories
to energize and stretch the organization.
As CEOs lead us through complexity into a better
future, they must maintain strong values—
recognizing their responsibility to use unwavering
humanity as their compass, or North Star, when
making decisions or changing paths.
Every era sets its own demands for leadership.
In response, a great leader not only accepts thechallenge, but brings their own vision to it. Ricardo
Bofill knew that to attain global excellence, it would
not be enough to pursue architecture in the oldway. Instead, he assembled a diverse and skilled
team, stretching everyone’s capacities to the limit
as together they built in ways no one had envisaged
before, creating magnificent and inspiring new
landmarks that celebrate the vast potential of
humanity. As we enter a period that offers challenges
and opportunities on a global scale, it is an honor
for us at Egon Zehnder to share the experiences ofleaders who are striving to reinvent themselves andtheir teams, building new organizations together.
We hope you will join us as we present the struggles
and accomplishments—the imperfect and inspiring
human drama—of their stories.

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#ArchitectsofProsperity

Navigating a
World in Flux
“I wouldn’t reveal this to my managers, or the Board,”
Mateo confided in us, soon after we began to workwith him. “But the truth is, I’m puzzled. I can’t say
exactly where I went wrong.” Until a few years ago,
his career had been as smooth and reliable as aprecision-engineered instrument, with a stellar
performance as CEO.
Mateo started his career as a talented science
graduate at a prestigious manufacturing firm,
where he drew on his analytical skills to streamline
processes, run an efficient team, and stave
off competitors in a market of tight margins.
Rising steadily to CEO, Mateo drove innovationand performance over several business cycles,
maintaining a strong position in his dynamic andhighly competitive industry. He created a global
footprint, drawing on resources and skills at theforefront of multiple technology sectors. His
company’s brand came to signify leading productswith outstanding functionality and customer value.
“We were a top performer in our industry, evenacross manufacturing globally, for ten years. But
then the problems began,” Mateo reflected in one
intense and frank session with us. “Performance
dropped slowly, then fast. I thought: This is one of thecycles I’ve managed before. I kept doing what I’d always
done. When the tried-and-tested responses didn’t

work, the team and I came under massive fire fromall sides. As CEO, you’re so attuned to the fortunesof your company, so attentive to quality, costs, sales,that you feel the blows in your body as they come.”

As CEO, you’re so attuned to the fortunesof your company, so attentive to quality,
costs, sales, that you feel the blows inyour body as they come.
The industry was upended by radically novel producttechnology, with much higher social acceptance.
This called for a new mindset, fresh skills, massive
investment, and bold innovations to remodel
the entire customer journey. Mateo had seen theapproach of the new technology, but rejected it asunreliable and far too investment-heavy; he thought
any disruption would come far in the future. By thetime he became aware of its true potential, nimble
competitors and unexpected new players had begun
taking market share. “When I saw our competitors’
products, I had to admire them,” Mateo told us,
shaking his head. “But I felt queasy. A voice in me
said, This is the future–and you’re not there.”
For Mateo, the second hit came amid a rise in socialjustice activism from shareholders, supported

by high-profile journalists. Questions mounted
about the sustainability of processes and products
developed under his leadership, and about thesector as a whole. Activists claimed that Mateo’s
company, being a leader in the industry, had ignored
its negative environmental impact and missed
opportunities to conserve natural resources. External
stakeholder groups claimed they should have been
allowed to collaborate in building environmentallysound practices. Mateo had always thought it best
to continue with his core mission of producing
outstanding high-technology products. Now, as
the pressures grew overwhelming, Mateo and his
team continued to underestimate emerging trends,
remaining hesitant to commit to transformation–and the company’s reputation began to lose ground.

Proactive and responsible leadership,
not mere compliance
Mateo gradually came to realize that he wasfacing some of the business challenges of our era.
He would need to respond not by shrugging themoff as a problem for the distant future, but by
engaging immediately, transforming radicallyin order to survive.
While the past year has felt like a departure fromthe script, requiring adaptation to a tumultuous“new normal”, it has also been a continuation of
our current age, if faster and more demanding:presenting humanity with uncertainty, acceleratedchange, interconnection and interdependence.
Technological innovation is no longer a discrete
sector, but a force of ubiquitous change anddisruption, challenging not only the products,
processes and technologies to which Mateo was
accustomed, but the workings of entire businesssectors, and the nature of society. Alongside rapidlychanging technology, we are presented with apolitical landscape in which once stable trade
networks, political orders, and allegiances arein flux. Widespread social concerns and increasingpolarization add to the fractious nature of
the landscape.

Technological innovation is no longer a
discrete sector, but a force of ubiquitouschange and disruption, challenging theworkings of entire business sectors, andthe nature of society.
The responsibilities of companies have never been
greater, as corporate leaders and stakeholder groups
increasingly acknowledge. Governments, employees,
customers, shareholders, and activists are calling forbusinesses to be a force for good, creating prosperity
for the many. This new mandate is evident in the riseof impact investing, consumer demand for ethically
mindful goods and services, and new metrics forbusiness success such as the “decency quotient”. In
short, there is a growing expectation that businessleaders will provide foresight as opposed tomere compliance.
With numerous businesses under pressure fromboth these forces and the COVID-19 pandemic,
many CEOs are feeling the urgent need to forge new
ways of leading their institutions. A new leadershiparchetype is required–someone who can sense thefuture in an age of uncertainty, perceiving trends
and transforming proactively; who is agile andadaptive, empathic and principled, and attuned tothe opportunities inherent in chaos and crisis.

How to step up
The past year has been a trial by fire for CEOs:
Some have not been ready to meet its challenges,
while others have stepped up, demonstrating thekind of leadership that is needed for a period ofcrisis and uncertainty.

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Our deep engagements with thousands of leaders
globally show that CEOs who are well prepared forthis new age commit to staying clear-sighted andself-aware, adaptive, and alert to opportunities forvaluable relationships.

CEOs who are well prepared for thisnew age commit to staying clear-sighted
and self-aware, adaptive, and alert toopportunities for valuable relationships.
One CEO who illustrates the rewards ofadaptiveness is Tara, the CEO of a large restaurant
chain, who has led her company through a massive
and prescient transformation. Over several years,
Tara and her management reviewed every aspect of
the customer experience, evaluated and enhanced
their capabilities, and implemented a constant flowof thoughtful daily adjustments to revitalize
the company.
Under her leadership, beginning in 2017, thecompany made strategic decisions which havedelivered growth even during the pandemic. Tara,
who stays aware of her need to adapt and is always
ready to question her own practices, inspires thesame openness among her executives. Listening tocustomer needs and rigorously observing trends,
Tara and her team have measured the pulse of
emerging shifts in consumer behavior, as well aschanging ways of accessing her restaurants. The
company invested significantly in streamlining its
drive-through and digital and mobile-app orderingsystems, long before COVID-19 forced competitors to
do the same. While these changes meant a departurefrom old service-delivery models, they continued tohonor the restaurant chain’s longstanding values of
convenience, efficiency, and community presence.

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Tracking changes in consumer demand, Tara’s
company has radically adjusted its menus; forinstance, it has inverted the ratios of certain foodand beverage categories to meet new customer
tastes, while reinventing popular favorites. Tara also
introduced options to blur the restaurant chain’s
traditional dayparts in response to customers’ needs
for more flexible choices. The chain has expanded
into new markets, which allowed it to weather asales downturn in traditional urban strongholds. To
signify these transformations, Tara has rebranded
her company to communicate its new direction,
while keeping enough of the old brand to retain its
iconic regional status.
Tara has also worked to ensure that any benefits
permeate her organization and radiate to external
and indirect stakeholder communities. The company
expanded its CSR initiatives in the pandemic, while
reopening and operating branches cautiously toensure the health of staff and customers.
Today’s CEOs must understand that uncertainty
and instability will continue to be the norm, but
recognize that change brings opportunity. Great
CEOs may, like Mateo, stumble. But, like Tara, they
will come to seek out innovative business models
and technology to amplify existing organizational
strengths and allow new prospects to emerge
and flourish. They will recognize that today,transformation is not an optional ingredientfor companies striving to perform. Rather,transformation is performance: as CEO, if you
aren’t standing at the center of a loud, diverse anddiverging set of interests and stakeholders, taking
the lead to transform, you aren’t performing.

Today’s CEOs must understand that
uncertainty and instability will continue
to be the norm, but recognize thatchange brings opportunity.

#ArchitectsofProsperity

Time to Openthe Doors
As soon as we started working with Daniel, the new
CEO of a global financial services firm, he impressed
us as an intent listener. When we spoke, he gave
us his steady attention. He offered his responses inwell-crafted sentences, orchestrated with precise
movements of his hands to emphasize how theelements of a situation were connected. In short, it
was luminously clear to us that Daniel was a deeplearner and profound thinker–and that his identity
as a systematic analyzer has driven his career.
With senior experience across a range of key
functions in major financial-services firms, Daniel
was recognized for his contributions by the Boardof a multinational company seeking a new chief
executive. The Board appointed him unanimously;
the firm celebrated his arrival. Yet Daniel was not
one to be complacent: He understood that even withall his executive experience, leading a multi-billiondollar firm with many thousands of employees in aturbulent global environment would call for a newlevel of consciousness and practice. The previous
CEO had been admired globally for his wisdom as
he grew the firm, and there were websites dedicatedto his remarks and achievements. But Daniel, who
was relatively unknown, would be facing a rockier
business environment: an aggressive competitor thatthreatened to overtake the company, and a digital
startup that could disrupt the whole industry.

“I have to review my entire approach,” Daniel told
us. “I value the qualities that got me to where I am
today, but I know I’m going to have to build on thosein some important ways to get where I want to go.”Daniel asked us to help him rise to the challenge.

“I value the qualities that got me
to where I am today, but I know I’m
going to have to build on those insome important ways to get where
I want to go.”Double down or open up?
At first, he was inclined to double down on theskills that had worked so well for him. “Initially, I
thought that my CEO position and challenges might
be similar to my previous senior roles, but bigger,essentially calling for more data management andanalysis,” he mused. But with his MBA and decadesof executive experience, he had already pushed thesecapacities to the limit–and now found they were
not enough to manage the complexity he faced. We
wondered whether he might turn to those capacities
that had not been at the forefront of his corporaterise so far; to reflect on himself not just as an analytic
decision-maker, but as a richly intricate person. He

could begin with some questions to inspire selfreflection: Who am I? What do I stand for?
We had in mind a powerful schema proposed by
Erica Ariel Fox, Harvard Law School Lecturer andauthor of the bestselling book Winning from Within.
Fox, who has worked with thousands of executives
globally, has identified four archetypes in every
person: the Thinker, the Warrior, the Dreamer andthe Lover.1 The Thinker gathers and analyses facts;
the Warrior draws on resolve to get results; theDreamer develops an inspiring vision; and the Loveris attuned to human emotions, fostering rich andrewarding relationships.
Each person nurtures some of these ways of being,says Fox, but few people develop them all. Yet noneof the archetypes should be neglected, as humanbeings enlarge themselves and assist others bycultivating every archetype: reason and resolve,
vision and emotion.
We began to wonder whether Daniel had worked so
hard to be a great Thinker and Warrior–to analyze
and resolve whatever arose–that he might benefit
from rediscovering his inner visionary, and hisurge to connect profoundly with others. Daniel
was intrigued, and he began a journey on the pathof self-reflection, connecting with other CEOs andleaders who had undergone a similar personaltransformation with us. Though he had alreadyexperienced many past interventions to promotepersonal development, this time he didn’t approach
the task in a detached manner, as if he were taking
an analytic MBA course. In his program with us, hebegan a genuine–indeed, brutally honest–process of
self-reflection.
As our discussions continued, Daniel began tofeel that his relentless focus had narrowed his
consciousness. One day he said to us, “I think there
are doors in my life that have been closed for a longtime–and I want to open them.” We had the privilege
to work closely with him as he embarked on ajourney of transformation. As Daniel became moreauthentic and vulnerable, facing up to his anxietiesand developing inspiring hopes, he began working
to open himself up not only as a business leader, butalso as a father and a spouse; he strove to operate
not only with his powerful intellect, but with an
integrated mind and body. He would never lose his
powers as a Thinker and a Warrior–but now he wasfinding his potential as a Dreamer and Lover, withrewards for himself and for others.
As Daniel worked on himself, he found that he wasnaturally reaching out to his top management, andfeeling the same commitment to their development.
“It’s not just about me,” he said; “it’s about an
expansion of consciousness for the team and thefirm, an enlargement of our vision and imagination–
and, ultimately, an inclusiveness that spans society
at large.” No profound change is easy, and there
were days when Daniel was tempted to narrow his
focus again, returning to a purely analyze-andexecute mindset. But he kept enlarging himself,and his expanded vision–self-aware, relational,
and adaptive–yielded innovative ideas, benefiting
the ecosystem in which the company operates. His
firm has lent its financial, technical and strategic
expertise to many other organizations, supportingthem in the broader economy.

“It’s about an expansion of
consciousness for the team and thefirm, an enlargement of our vision andimagination–and, ultimately,
an inclusiveness that spans society
at large.”
In one initiative that grew from his enlarged
awareness, Daniel identified data analytics as astrong enabler of performance that his company waswell positioned to address–so, at the height of the
COVID-19 crisis, he rolled out cutting-edge analytics
support for businesses, at no cost to them. He has

also stepped up collaboration with other institutions
to strengthen financial inclusion worldwide, and heFox, EA, “This is the voyage of your life”, Egon Zehnder, 2018. egonzehnder.com/insight/this-is-the-voyage-of-your-life; Kruse, K, “How To Win
The Conflict Within”, Forbes.com, 2017. forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2017/05/08/how-to-win-the-conflict-within/?sh=10c3611b17c5
1

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faces new challenges with everything he can bring tothem. Maintaining his firm’s innovative position in
an environment of new and established competitors,
Daniel is no longer the newcomer stepping into thelarge shoes of his revered predecessor; he is a leader
striving continually to fulfil his own potential, andthat of his company.

The dual journeyTransitioning into the role of CEO requires an intense
period of personal reflection, as the majority of theCEOs who formed part of our research project–a
global group of more than 400 CEOs–have strongly
affirmed.2 Daniel’s extraordinary journey shows
the power of great leadership in this new period of
global change. At Egon Zehnder, we believe that forCEOs to be successful, they must embark on a dual
journey, simultaneously transforming themselves andtheir organizations.

For CEOs to be successful, theymust embark on a dual journey,
simultaneously transforming themselves
and their organizations.
Every era presents its own social, economic, political,
and technological environment–and thus, its own
requirements for leadership. In our time, humanconnection and self-awareness have emerged as corequalities. The focus is shifting from doing to being:
CEOs are moving from the traditional commandand-control approach to a mindset of constantpersonal growth, embracing curiosity, adaptability,
and the ability to build strong teams.3
When leaders choose authenticity, as Daniel did,they connect purpose to personal meaning, andnaturally develop a deep commitment to theirorganization, its people, and its stakeholders. The
authenticity at play here is not a rigid insistence on apreconceived set of beliefs and behaviors, but a deep
and adaptive willingness to experiment and findways that promote thriving.4
Many companies have embraced a broader role ofcare for society during the COVID-19 pandemic–
spurred by the crisis, they have already embarked
on a journey to the new way of leadership.5 Indeed,
the new leadership is aligned with philosopher Peter
Singer’s classic account of the expanding circle–a
process of reflection and care that becomes evermore encompassing.6
Our research indicates that the consciousnessof an organization’s leadership determines theorganization’s performance; a firm cannot perform
at a higher level than its leaders’ self-awareness.7
Hence, self-awareness is an organizational
imperative. CEOs can follow several paths toself-awareness: being curious and surrounding
themselves with honest, strong and intelligent
people; adopting personal habits, like mindfulness,that allow them to listen with their minds andhearts; and learning to experiment outside their
comfort zones.8

Najipoor-Schütte, K & Patton, D, “The CEO: A personal reflection – Adapting to a complex world”, Egon Zehnder, 2018. egonzehnder.com/
what-we-do/ceo-search-succession/insights/the-ceo-a-personal-reflection
3
Ibid
4
See, for example, Ibarra, H, “The Authenticity Paradox”, HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership, Vol 2.
Harvard Business Review Press, Massachusetts, 2020.
5
Kuhn, F, & Malhotra, B, “Master complexity before it masters you”, Egon Zehnder, 2020.
egonzehnder.com/what-we-do/leadership-solutions/insights/master-complexity-before-it-masters-you
6Singer, P, The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress. Princeton University Press, 20117
Najipoor-Schütte, K & Patton, D, “The CEO: A personal reflection”.
8
Ibid.
2

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The consciousness of an organization’s
leadership determines the organization’s
performance; a firm cannot perform
at a higher level than its leaders’self-awareness.
Thousands of deep and sustained engagementswith CEOs in every sector across the globe, as wellas our relationships with the Boards that hire them,
have convinced us of the essential importance ofCEO self-awareness. Indeed, self-awareness is one ofEgon Zehnder’s three mutually supportive pillars of
CEO leadership, standing together with a relational
orientation and adaptiveness. Self-awarenessstrengthens leaders’ relationships by enhancing
listening skills that promote learning, rather
than a rush toward a hasty “fix”; it also promotes
adaptiveness by raising perception of trends
and opportunities.
Self-aware leaders enable others in theirorganization to become reflective and vulnerable
too, in a process of collective self-awareness. And
because this collective self-awareness typically does
not arise spontaneously, it is the CEO’s responsibility
to foster it. In the words of Fox: “Self-awareness is
now a central driver of success. A self-aware leader
helps an organization be more self-aware so there’s ahuge multiplier effect.”9

A CEO might adopt simple mechanisms such asasking management-team members to check in at
the start of meetings to say how they are feelingthat day, and what they hope their impact on theircolleagues will be. They might also embrace morechallenging approaches. For example, one group
explicitly asked itself why one of its members
was always critical, and learnt that she expected
perfection from herself and others; this realization
helped her to be less hard on herself, and the team toappreciate her critical contributions.10
When they have the courage to choose openness
and unfamiliar ways of being over the goal of
invincibility, as Daniel so vividly displayed, leaders
redefine their role for our times. They promotechanges in themselves and their organizations thatradiate outwards, bringing their vision to help createa more supportive and collaborative world.

When they have the courage to choose
openness and unfamiliar ways of being
over the goal of invincibility, leaders
redefine their role for our times.

Fox, “This is the voyage of your life”.
Reitz, M, & Chaskalson, M, “Why Your Team Should Practice Collective Mindfulness”, Harvard Business Review,
August 19, 2020. https://hbr.org/2020/08/why-your-team-should-practice-collective-mindfulness

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10

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#ArchitectsofProsperity

Perform andTransform“Some are born great, some achieve greatness,and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
This line from Shakespeare feels only too apt for Jan,an ambitious young executive who was handed the
top job at a major global retailer–when heleast expected it.
The call to greatness came on a Saturday evening
when Jan was at his beach house with his young
family. He’d just returned from a challenging
kayak trip through rough swell when he glanced
at his cellphone and saw five missed calls from hiscompany’s Chairman. “And I thought I’d had myadrenalin jolt for the day!” he remembers wryly. His
predecessor had suddenly departed after a clash with
the Board, and Jan had been chosen to take his place.
An ambitious, fiercely intelligent achiever, he’dalways had his eye on the CEO prize–he just never
dreamed it would happen so soon. He felt anything
but ready.
Not that he lacked ideas. At a time of immensechange in the industry, Jan was itching to lead alarge-scale transformation. He wanted to unleash
digitization–in everything from automation tocontactless payments to e-commerce–in a company
that had built its reputation in very traditional retail.
He wanted to shift from a heavily operations-driven
environment to one that was designed for emerging

customer needs and experience. And he waspassionate about transforming the company culture
to make it much more open, diverse, inclusive, andappreciative of its people.
Yet, as Jan later confided in us, he found himself
uncharacteristically daunted by the prospect.
This was a man not well acquainted with failure–
as a “straight A” guy his whole life, he’d always
had accolades. Now, however, there were nosuperiors to bestow approval; no one to give him
permission, or pat him on the back, or talk him
down if he overreached–no one but himself. “It wasdisorienting,” he admits now. “Here I was, at thebrink of my greatest success, and I felt like a kid inschool, waiting for my gold star.”“Here I was, at the brink of my greatest
success, and I felt like a kid in school,
waiting for my gold star.”And, of course, there was the Board. This bodyloomed large in his mind–Jan was all too aware of
the fate of his predecessor, and naturally feared
the Board might dispense with him too if he fell
short. For someone who’d always been the best,such a public humiliation would be devastating. It
didn’t help this dynamic that the Board members

were stalwarts of local industry, of an older
generation, and with largely traditional worldviews.
Transformative change was always going to be ahard sell. Jan felt he had to earn his spurs in theireyes, before broaching his ambitious plans–meaning
several quarters of solid bottom-line results.
This left him in a kind of limbo, waiting for thenod to proceed.
Shortly afterwards, the COVID-19 pandemic struck,
putting further huge pressure on the company’ssales and profits–and on Jan. He felt more nervous
than ever about embarking on a bold transformation
program, when the Board’s instinct was to steadythe ship. “It was full-blown impostor syndrome. I
knew what I wanted to achieve as CEO, but I didn’t
feel I had the right–or the true authority–to give
voice to that vision.” It was at this juncture that Jan,at a loss, did something he had seldom done in his
professional life: He asked for help.

Truly inhabiting the CEO role
We recognized Jan’s predicament: Hesitancy
and insecurity are not uncommon in new CEOs,
particularly those who have not been fully
groomed for succession. Jan needed to stopseeing himself as beholden to the Board, andfully embrace his new mandate and identity:
CEO of a huge global company.

Hesitancy and insecurity are notuncommon in new CEOs, particularly
those who have not been fully groomed
for succession.
As a first step, he met with several other CEOs, allestablished leaders of large companies. This would
help him build connections and alliances with his
peers, and sense the tremendous freedom he now
had to be the architect of his company’s future. The
experience might well ease his dealings with his own

16

Board. Most importantly, though, it would show him
ways to inhabit his new role more comfortably.
“It wasn’t easy, at first,” he recalls. “I really felt
vulnerable on those calls, laying bare my struggles.
But I wouldn’t have learned as much if I didn’t open
myself up in that way. It was a massively significant
experience for me.” He remembers in particular one
conversation that really turned him around: “TheCEO of a financial services company told me–‘Youknow, those Board members? They didn’t entirely
know what they were doing when they started out,either. And maybe they still don’t!’”
He saw that the current Board were not necessarily
the role models that our volatile times demand;
indeed, perhaps they could learn something fromJan’s forward-looking attitudes. Where Jan was
future-focused, their frame of reference was theirpast business success. Where his mindset was global,
theirs was narrower. And where he saw opportunities
to transform the organization, they tended to see
threats from new competitors, new technologies,
and new expectations from consumers and talent.
“I was more in tune with what the company needed
now. It was up to me to be my own governor–nobody
else, even with a wealth of experience, could dothat for me.”

Where he saw opportunities totransform the organization, theBoard tended to see threats from newcompetitors, new technologies, and new
expectations from consumers
and talent.
Our conversations also helped Jan reconsider
his assumption that he needed to “perform totransform”–focusing first on delivery to earn theright to set an agenda. One of his first independentacts was to call a massive virtual town hall andannounce a bold program to “be a purpose-led,values-led company” that would bring new value
to customers and communities, embrace diversity
and inclusion, train and develop the next generation,and unlock the power of technology. That step
took Jan beyond his familiar terrain of intellectual
leadership and prompted him to work on his
capacity to connect with people at every level.
“I knew that if I was going to bring the organization
along on the transformation journey, I’d haveto truly engage,” he said.
A year or so later, Jan’s evolution in confidence,and his perform-and-transform approach, arevisible across the company. Its embrace of digitaltechnologies has brought customers back, and has
contributed to a significant uptick in stock price–even during the COVID-19 crisis. Its doubling down
on purpose and values has resonated at a time
when care for communities matters more than ever;for example, Jan and his executive team made thedecision not to cut any jobs, even at the height of thepandemic. And the shift in the organization’s culture
is palpable: Open conversation in virtual town halls
is now the norm, and diversity is actively promoted.

To perform is to transform
The story of Jan and his company’s far-reachingchange highlights a crucial truth for CEO-level
leaders in any industry: The distance between
performance and transformation has closed.
Delivering on daily business goals (“perform”)
depends, now more than ever, on investing inand realizing previously unimaginedsolutions (“transform”).

Delivering on daily business goals(“perform”) depends, now morethan ever, on investing in andrealizing previously unimaginedsolutions (“transform”).
In recent years, companies that embracetransformation have been the ones most
likely to survive and thrive–and the pandemic has
made this trend even more apparent. Transformed
businesses are ready to be ambitious and expansive
once the pandemic is over, and to respond
imaginatively to the changed expectations of theircustomers and stakeholders.
But before a CEO can confidently undertake thesetasks, it’s often necessary for them to do sometransformative work on themselves, developing
their own identity. This may mean working against
old habits that fail to serve their new role, andexploring untapped potential.1 In Jan’s case, he not
only built on the personal skills and confidence that
had carried him all along, but also discovered thecourage to embrace his vulnerability, look within,
and ask for help. Only then was he able to fully step
into the leadership role and embody it. His biggest
lesson? “I’d been so focused on action–doing theright thing, at the right time, for the right people.”But what comes first is state of mind: knowing how
to be the CEO, not just do the CEO’s tasks. From
this strong foundation of self-awareness and selfassurance, a CEO can step forward to take his or her
place as a meaning-maker and future-builder.

Sunderland, R, “Becoming CEO: Why identity development matters”, Egon Zehnder Chair Insights Vol. 5, November, 2020; Finlay, AR, “From‘know-it-alls’ to ‘learn-it-alls’: CEO leadership for a new future”, Egon Zehnder CEO Insights Vol 17, November, 2020.
1

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#ArchitectsofProsperity

The Power ofRelationships
If you were to encounter Lukas socially, he would not
strike you as a leader in the heroic mold: He is quiet,
even withdrawn. You would note a preoccupied
figure, a mixture of precise engineer and courtly
gentleman, speaking politely but intensely to acolleague–and never guess that he was the CEO of amultinational fashion conglomerate worth tens ofbillions of dollars.
“Crowds sap my energy,” he confesses. An anomaly,
one might think, in the fashion trade, a field so
associated with events and showmanship. But
appearances are deceptive: In conversation, one soon
comprehends that Lukas is both personally warmer
and more deliberate than he might at first seem. He
has an old-world charm and easy humor, but gets
quickly to the point. His razor-sharp mind is trainedon commercial opportunity, and his pragmatism isbased on decades of experience. In his more thanforty years at the same firm in multiple capacities,
he’s worked his way from the ground up, learningand building.
Why, then, would such an impressive figure havefelt “unprepared” when he first took on the
mantle of CEO?

Coming out from behind the desk
Stepping into the CEO role meant walking intoa whirlwind of new and substantial stressors. As
an introvert, Lukas was always happiest in his
own predictable, self-contained world, making
calculations and deductions and communicating
his decisions down the chain of command. His wasa way of doing business perfectly suited to a retiring
personal style–and to a vanishing era.
But it is no longer enough for a CEO to rely on
their own experience, or to rely on facts or analyses
presented to them. The environment has become
very much more complex, and to build opinions
and make sound decisions, today’s leaders need new
skills–including those that require them to comeout from behind their desks. Lukas illustrates afamiliar pattern in CEOs of the old school: Growing
up through the ranks in one company, they’ve
built their support internally, without necessarily
interacting deeply with stakeholders beyond theorganization, or even beyond their own department–
particularly in an enormous corporation like theone Lukas leads. Very rapidly, he has had to acquainthimself with a vast, complex network, cultivating
fresh relationships with consumers, suppliers,
regulators, advocacy groups, and his own Board.

Today’s leaders need new skills–
including those that require them tocome out from behind their desks.
“Coming into the role, I felt disconnected from many
essential players–people that in my previous roles I
never dealt with directly,” Lukas told us. “One of mypressing tasks was to reach out and engage–and forsomeone like me, that’s stressful! Before, I’d always
seen myself more as the solo pilot of the ship.”
Other factors took him even further beyond his
comfort zone. He was under extreme pressure
from investors to shed certain underperforming
divisions. Externally, the broader fashion industry
was facing scrutiny of its record on labor rights
and environmental issues. All these competingclaims and conflicts seemed designed to overwhelm
Lukas; they required a whole new skill set in conflict
resolution and interpersonal engagement–and, it
sometimes seemed, the time and energy of a dozen
CEOs. Lukas was ill-prepared for the maelstrom. “I’mjust one man!” he remembers exclaiming to himself
one morning at his desk, the urgent emails piling up.

Distributing leadership: everyone a CEO
One of Lukas’s first decisive acts in his new role
was to identify the fashion company’s key brands,
and reconfigure them as separate business units,
while getting rid of less productive divisions. His
breakthrough, which we were privileged to witness
in a session with him, was deciding to expand the
responsibility for leadership beyond himself, to thebroader collective. In this spirit, he boldly entrusted
the leader of each division of the company with a
CEO role in their domain.

His breakthrough was deciding to
expand the responsibility forleadership beyond himself,
to the broader collective.

Taking his hands off the tiller in this way was noteasy for Lukas, but it was revelatory. It opened
his eyes to a different, more distributed way ofleadership–one that demanded less leading from thefront, more trust, and the building of relationships
across hierarchical levels. It has unleashed a seriesof creative and strategic ideas that had been
suffocating in corporate bureaucracy. All the while,
he maintained active lines of communication,
and worked to create an enabling environment.
Investing in leadership programs for his executives,
he encouraged them to join other companies’ Boards
as a way to broaden their perspective and build their
networks of peer CEOs. “I’ve realized that I’m there toempower others,” Lukas told us recently. “As I stretch
myself, I must inspire everyone else to stretch too.
But I first need to create the space for them.”
In our discussions, we’ve seen Lukas expand theconcept of distributed leadership still further,beyond the executive to every person in thecompany. This more egalitarian approach has
the added advantage of empowering employees,
even the most junior, to speak their minds freely
about issues that leadership needs to hear. Lukas
encourages people to express divergent opinions in
the workplace–even very difficult or emotive ones.
“A broader range of experiences only makes us
stronger,” he has said.
Like ripples in a pond from a thrown stone, thisrelational approach has led Lukas to reconsider the
dynamics of his company’s connections to external
parties, too. Instead of sometimes difficult entities
to be managed, he has come to regard stakeholders
as gateways to opportunity; and his own firm as one
node in a much larger, interdependent ecosystemof suppliers, staff, consumers, government andregulators, all bound together by vital relationships.
He now actively seeks out new partnerships,
including alliances across organizations, and withfellow CEOs.

19

Prioritizing ethics and profits
Lukas became CEO at a time when human-rights
and environmental NGOs were becoming ever more
vocal, powerful and close to home in their critiquesof the fashion industry, in some cases stepping right
into the boardroom in the form of activist investors.
Always a thoughtful man with a strong ethicalcore, Lukas knew that businesses would have toconfront these pressing issues. With his developing
understanding of relational leadership, he was able
to expand his vision of collective responsibility
and interdependence to encompass social-justiceconcerns–and tackle them productively. “I’ve learned
how to convert corrosive tension into creative
tension,” he says.

“I’ve learned how to convert corrosive
tension into creative tension.”
Pragmatic considerations, however, are neverforgotten. At no time does Lukas lose sight of the
CEO’s fundamental task of steering the businesson a financially sound course, generating value forshareholders. Balancing principle and pragmatism,
Lukas finds ways to integrate these interests andtrade-offs. It is Lukas’s connection to his consumer
base that has guided him to focus on one particularsocial imperative: gender equality. The majority of
the fashion industry’s customers are female; paying
attention to gender issues makes good business aswell as ethical sense. This is also significant because
so many women are employed in the global fashionindustry, especially at the frontline.1 With the
COVID-19 pandemic, millions of workers face loss of
income–primarily young women.2“Decisions made in my office impact the lives ofwomen worldwide,” Lukas says soberly. “It’s a huge
responsibility.” Closer to home, Lukas is also deeply
concerned with gender parity within the firm, which
employs many women but fewer in the upper ranks
and on the Board. It is his avowed intention toincrease representation at all levels.
At Egon Zehnder, we have seen how successful CEOs
willingly embrace a place of discomfort.3 Today’s
business leaders cannot be afraid to ask the difficult
questions that the shifting global context demands–of their organizations, and themselves. In Lukas’scase, his challenge was to reach out and connect
himself to the broader collective. He has done thisunflinchingly, progressively expanding his circles ofengagement–first to managerial colleagues, then to
all levels of the organization, from there to external
stakeholders, and finally to the urgent issues of theplanet. In doing so, he has created a new culture,
where authentic connection is encouraged at alllevels, helping the company maintain its leading
place in a competitive and ever-changing industry.

Today’s business leaders cannot be
afraid to ask the difficult questions thatthe shifting global context demands–of
their organizations, and themselves.

Veridiano, R, “What does gender equality have to do with the fashion industry? Everything”, Remake, February 8, 2018. remake.world/stories/
news/what-does-gender-equality-have-to-do-with-the-fashion-industry-everything2
Berg, A, Hedrich, L & Magnus, K, “Time for change: How to use the crisis to make fashion sourcing more agile and sustainable”, McKinsey &Company, May 2020. mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/time-for-change-how-to-use-the-crisis-to-make-fashion-sourcing-more-agileand-sustainable3
Najipoor-Schütte, K & Patton, D, ‘The CEO: A personal reflection—Adapting to a complex world’, Egon Zehnder, 2018
120

#ArchitectsofProsperity

Reconnecting with
Our Humanity
From childhood, it was clear to all around her thatBeth–with her extraordinary intelligence and work
ethic–was destined for great things, in whateverfield she entered. When, after college, a fascination
with innovation propelled her into the business ofcomputing, she was fast-tracked for leadership. “It
was like she was born in a golden cradle,” recalls one
colleague from her early days.
After landing a coveted job in a software company ofglobal influence, she advanced steadily up the ranks.
Colleagues admired her focus, her effectivenessand her guts. In a time of financial crisis, Bethshepherded various divisions of the business back tofinancial health. She was noted for her ability to “fix”
crises, turn around poorly performing businesses,
and push a team to outdo themselves.
She was, if anything, too successful: After someyears as a high flyer in the rarefied world of strategy,
she was transferred to a struggling regional
division in need of rescue. “It felt like being moved
from the corner office to the factory floor,” sherecalls. “Humbling. It was also the toughest job
I’d ever taken on: It involved addressing stagnant
performance, implementing restructuring, andimmersion in an institutional culture that was quite
different to what I knew.”

The long-term engagement took every ounce of herenergy and skill. On paper, it was a solid success.
Beth increased revenue, quality of production,and organizational integrity. She maintained herfearsome work ethic, and expected the same fromher colleagues.
But such a hard-driving attitude can come up
against resistance–particularly for a woman ina male-dominated sector. The world of softwaredevelopment was virtually an all-boys club. Somecolleagues felt threatened, and at times openly
undermined her.

Such a hard-driving attitude can comeup against resistance–particularly for awoman in a male-dominated sector.
There were other issues related to organizational
mores. In the regional office, personal andprofessional boundaries were indistinct, andopenness and social connection were encouraged.
Beth’s sense of herself as a manager, however,remained rigidly divided. While at times she
could be enthusiastic and inspirational, when
she clicked back into “business mode,” heruncompromising style could be perceived ascold or even antagonistic. She struggled to forge
relationships with her new team.

When the time came to have children, burnout
loomed. Maternal care and empathy became central
aspects of her identity at home. Yet when she turned
to work, she felt the imperative to leave that part ofherself behind; to stay focused and aloof. And bothparts of her divided life had to succeed–flawlessly.
She experienced enormous anxiety about being
ill-prepared, avoiding challenges that risked failure.
The polarities in her life became starker, and her
relationships suffered. “I felt misunderstood,” shesays. “I drove my staff hard, but I knew I was evenharder on myself.” And if colleagues noted the gulf
between “nice Beth” and “boss Beth,” it was she who
felt it the most acutely.
At some point, the center could not hold. Eager tomove on, she was considered for a number of top
roles at other organizations–but was not appointed
to any of them. Midway through her promised
brilliant career, Beth was stuck.

The only way out is in
It was at this crisis point in Beth’s life that she turned
to us. After assessing the situation, we proposed thatthe work she needed to do was developmental–and
primarily on herself.

The work she needed to do wasdevelopmental–and primarilyon herself.
With her perfectionist nature, it was hard for“fixer” Beth to acknowledge that the problems to
be repaired might lie within. “I told myself I’d lostout on positions because firms preferred to hireinternally. But after it happened three, four times,
I had to face up to the idea that perhaps I wasn’t
the best applicant!”

22

She smiles when she remembers the moment inour discussions when this unpalatable possibility
emerged. “I was outraged!” she laughs. “I went away
in a huff. But after several weeks of self-examination,
I came back with my tail between my legs: Okay, let’s
do this.” And so Egon Zehnder had the privilege of
welcoming Beth to our program. We focusedon going deeper into her unconscious motivations
and the root causes of her difficulties, including
her self-doubt and fear of failure. Our role was tocoach her on a journey of self-discovery to becomea better leader.
In our sessions together, we identified several
blind spots: things that had been holding her back.
Chief among these was a binary split in her publicpersona–what she started to call “Visionary Beth”
and “Performance Beth.”
The performance persona was focused onachievement. Perfectionist, hard-driving anddetails-oriented, this Beth pressed people tocomplete their tasks, honing in on the minutiae of
their actions in ways that could feel, to some, like
distrustful interrogation. The visionary Beth wasless immediately effective, but was warmer andmore inspirational; concerned with strategy andmotivation, this Beth was more “human,” able toenthuse those around her about their larger mission.
Our task was to assist her to integrate these twomodalities, and in doing so build connections withher people and inspire their trust, while still driving
them to achieve.
Working with us, Beth was able to adapt and makethree vital shifts in her mindset, which we sum up
as “guilt to pride; fear to courage; insecurity to loveof self.” Embracing these mental adjustments, shefound her authentic voice and rediscovered herdesire to lead.

These shifts produced other productive changes.
Where before she’d been plagued by doubt, now
she felt more able to take risks. Taking a step back,she eased up on trying to control every moving partof the organization, allowing herself to trust thosearound her with responsibility. “I realized what was
important was that I create the right context for mypeople to act in.”Weaving together authority withvulnerability
Beth’s insights have helped her overcome otherharmful binary divisions, too. She no longer sharply
splits her work persona from her empathic homelife. By openly showing her emotions, she has
gained access to her team’s support and insight.
Furthermore, her embrace of a transformational
journey gave permission to others to examine theirown motivations and blocks, strengthening thewhole team.

Her embrace of a transformational
journey gave permission to others to
examine their own motivations andblocks, strengthening the whole team.
In time, she has been able to accept vulnerability–
hers and others’–as a strength. Indeed, being awoman can be an advantage in this arena: She canbuild relationships and tap into aspects of humanexperience in ways that many men do not allow
themselves. “I can be mother and manager. It’s not a
weakness; it’s a unique power,” she says.

1

This personal growth has brought Beth to thenext stage of her professional development: herappointment as the CEO of her organization.
She says now: “I wouldn’t be here without thattransformational journey. It helped me stretch to myfull capacity.”It’s extremely important to her, as a woman, thatshe’s reached these heights “not by rejecting my‘feminine’ side, but by embracing it”–and in doingso, has become a beacon for young women in thetech field globally.
CEOs need to steer away from “hero” leadershipthat provides top-down directives to others and isaloof from human interactions.1 Weaving together
disparate characteristics–authority and confidencewith vulnerability and openness–is challenging, but
has become essential to creating a modern businessenvironment where people communicate easily
and comfortably.

Weaving together disparatecharacteristics–authority
and confidence with vulnerability andopenness–is challenging,but has become essential.
Before this can happen, however, a healthy dose of
self-examination, humility and self-awareness isrequired: Leaders like Beth demonstrate that even
if you start out in a “golden cradle,” you sometimes
need to take a long and difficult journey oftransformation to circle back to a golden conclusion.

Groysberg, B and Slind, M, “Leadership is a Conversation”, HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership Vol. 2 (2020)23

#ArchitectsofProsperity

The Adaptive CEO
In our thousands of engagements with global CEOs,
we have met many commanding personalities:
leaders who take charge of encounters, seeking tosteer events towards a well-defined goal. Raj was
different. Instead of setting out all the issues andproposing a way forward from the start of ourrelationship, he listened. Raj was an active listener:
He asked precise questions, sought clarity, andmaintained a high degree of intelligent focus thatwould have been daunting, had it not been balanced
by a warm and empathic manner.
This was in marked contrast to hyperconfident,
domineering Mike, whose shoes Raj had
recently filled as CEO of a major multinational
pharmaceuticals company. Indeed, when Raj wastapped for the position, he was hesitant to take it up.
A company veteran, having successfully led its largest
division for a number of years, his reticence was notborne from lack of competence. Instead, Raj wasconcerned that he might be expected to act more
like Mike: an inflexible leader who could not open
himself to alternative perspectives. After a period ofreflection, however, Raj realized that with courageand conviction, he could accept the position–and
reinvent it in accordance with his own instincts.

1
2

Staying true to himself, Raj embraced
an adaptive style that allowed him to lead withpersonal authenticity.

Adaptive leadership in troubled times
In periods of stability, problems are often
predictable and quickly comprehensible, solved byrecourse to an established playbook: Leaders need
only exercise their familiar expertise and authority.1
In an unstable environment, however, individuals
and organizations are faced with novel crises,demanding fresh strategies and new skills. Leaders
are then tempted to jump in with the promise of
a “fix,” instead of taking time to listen, absorb thecomplexity of the situation, and learn.2
This is where the concept of “adaptive leadership”
comes in. The concept is drawn from evolutionary
theory: With businesses, as with biologicalorganisms, successful adaptations enable a system
to survive in tough new environments. Adaptationis also an iterative process of observation andexperimentation, finding and refining new ways
to thrive. The adaptive leader’s task is to mobilize
people in this process. A key evolutionary concept

Heifetz, R, Leadership Without Easy Answers, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, 1994, 71-4.
Heifetz, R & Linsky, M, Leadership on the Line, Harvard Business Review Press, Massachusetts, 2002, 12.

is diversity: One must be prepared to engage with avariety of approaches, persisting even though some
may fail. In an organization, this means building
a culture that seeks out diverse views within andbeyond the company–what we call distributed orcollective intelligence.3

With businesses, as with biologicalorganisms, successful adaptations
enable a system to survive in toughnew environments.
For Raj, such ideas were transformative, immediately
chiming with his own preferences and abilities.
“I learned about adaptiveness just in time for me,
the company and the environment we are in,” Rajreflects, with his characteristic self-awareness.
“It showed me a path forward.”
This meant throwing out the idea that the CEO is avisionary whose job is to galvanize the organizationaccording to a fixed plan. Instead, Raj stepped into
the role with a creative and humble spirit, a listening
and learning mindset, and a willingness to takecalculated risks through informed experimentation.
These insights would prove especially powerfulwhen the pharmaceutical industry found itself at theforefront of the battle against COVID-19.

Listen and learn–and evolve
Raj realized that he needed to be attentive, closely
observing his company’s ecosystem and hearing
many opinions, before making high-stakes decisions.
When he took action, he did so boldly, with adisruption of the executive team’s siloed operating
dynamics. Previously, each executive had beenleft to reign over their unit, with little interaction

with their colleagues–a symptom of Mike’s topdown leadership strategy. Raj revived teamwork,
encouraging a collaborative and open-mindeddisposition to permeate the whole executive.
“Resolving new problems calls for commitment
to grasping complexity,” Raj reflected, “which
requires drawing on multiple perspectives. To
understand and learn, we have to connect with
one another much more closely.” This shift by nomeans undermined individual commitments andaccountability, which were enhanced to include
collective accountability and care.

“Resolving new problems calls forcommitment to grasping complexity,
which requires drawing on multiple
perspectives. To understand and learn,
we have to connect with one anothermuch more closely.”
For the adaptive leader, fostering these connections
is crucial, not only in diagnosing problems, but
in galvanizing the organization to transform in
response. People do not change readily–fearing not
so much change itself, but potential loss. In orderto move forward, they must feel that their views
and values are honored. This relational approachreinforces trust and expands the awareness andunderstanding of all involved: Listening leads
to learning. As Alexander Grashow, author andadaptive leadership theorist, has remarked, “If there’s
one secret to a good partnership, collaboration,
relationship, it’s this: Be in dialogue, not monologue.
Most of us spend our entire lives in monologue.”4
Unfortunately, for many CEOs, this behavior
becomes a habit.

Heifetz, R, Grashow, A & Linsky, M, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World,
Harvard Business Press, Massachusetts, 2009, 14-17.
4
Gast Fawcett, E, “Shh… Be Quiet and Listen”, National Center for Family Philanthropy, Oct 20, 2017. ncfp.org/2017/10/20/shhbe-quiet-and-listen
325Guided by productive conversations throughout thecompany, Raj made other significant changes to thecompany’s business model: He introduced expanded
access to medication, with capped prices in poorer
regions; more transparency regarding clinical trial
data; and wider collaboration with stakeholders totackle global healthcare challenges.
While adaptive leadership requires commitment
to this kind of innovation, it equally involves
understanding what should not change. As Ronald
Heifetz and Marty Linsky put it, “sustainable,transformative change is more evolutionary thanrevolutionary.”5 This means identifying and tapping
into the power of existing institutional values,
culture, knowledge and skills.

Adaptive leadership equally
involves understanding whatshould not change.
One such asset, Raj saw, was the company’s wealthof patient data. Attentive leaders also know how
to “listen” to the data, understanding the value of
constant information gathering and analysis. With
the coming of COVID-19, digital insights allowed
executives to take swift action to secure vulnerable
global supply chains. To remain agile in response to
the pandemic’s impact on markets, Raj increased theregularity of operational forecasts. This allowed thefirm to understand the efficacy of the organization’s
strategies, keep an eye on emerging changes inpatient behavior, and predict opportunities for
growth. For example, with a greater demand for
self-care, the company was able to capitalize on
its traditional strengths in remedies such as pain
relievers and dietary supplements, as well as new
products like rapid test kits.

5

Heifetz & Linsky, Leadership On The Line, 17.

26

The company was also able to pivot rapidly to aremote-work model for the vast majority of its
workforce during lockdown–an experiment that has
turned out to be advantageous, streamlining many
processes. Through ongoing discussions and surveys,
the organization has continued to communicate
with every employee, ensuring their safety andcomfort through the crisis. In further collaborativeand distributive moves, the company has partneredwith hospitals and charities throughout its global
areas of operation to ensure supplies of essential
healthcare products, and is working with othercompanies on COVID-19 vaccine development.

Most of us have deeply ingrained
tendencies to stick with what is familiarand safe instead of stretching into
the unknown.
Embracing adaptive leadership can be difficult. Mostof us have deeply ingrained tendencies to stick withwhat is familiar and safe–to use readily accessible
information instead of stretching into the unknown,
to substitute easy questions for difficult ones, and toresist criticism. We feel safer treating novel problems
in familiar ways, instead of working with them in allof their complexity. These entrenched biases may get
us through times of stability, but as we enter an era
defined by rapid change, it is adaptive leadership of
the kind that Raj exemplifies–self-aware, relational,
collective, always learning–that will take us forward
in an uncertain new world.

About Egon Zehnder
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