It starts
with theA global study

2

3

Dear CEO,We recently completed a study involving
nearly 1,000 CEOs worldwide. Perhaps you
participated—if so, thank you. More than ever, wehave observed great enthusiasm among CEOs totalk with one another, learn from their peers, andreflect more deeply on what is required of them.
In an individual reflection shared through ourstudy, one CEO said:“I never want to do this lastyear again, but I have grownin ways I could never havepredicted.”That spirit of personal growth born fromchallenge is a common thread running throughCEOs’ responses. When we weave together thevoices of your peers with the latest thinking from
Egon Zehnder’s CEO advisory work, four findings
stand out:

Complexity and rapid change
are reshaping business—andthe CEO’s role.
When asked about the impact of recent
circumstances on their organization, most CEOs
highlighted accelerated decision-making andchange, and greater economic uncertainty.
And 90 percent of them agreed that the CEO has
moved into the center of louder, more diverseand diverging voices in recent years. These shifts
speak to the ways in which the role of the
CEO is changing.

It starts with you—CEOs recognize theymust change themselves to change theworld around them.
Our most striking finding is the near-unanimous
agreement among a thousand leaders that, “AsCEO, I need the capacity to transform myself as
well as my organization.” Nearly 80 percent ofCEOs strongly agree on the importance of what
we at Egon Zehnder call the “dual journey.” Butchange is hard: Your peers admit to blind spotsthat hold them back from connecting with theirpeople and lifting the collective ambition.

CEOs sense their goal is prosperity
for the many—but most are far fromachieving it.
One CEO spoke for many, saying: “Today we havea more balanced ambition to deliver stronger
financial results and to make a significant socialand environmental contribution.” But it’s not yet
clear whether they will be able to deliver on thatambition: Traditional financial metrics remain
the dominant decision-driver for most CEOs.

To reset their course, CEOs are
expanding their capacity to beadaptive, relational, and self-aware.
They are committed to self-reflection andlistening to diverse points of view, and they
increasingly seek frequent, honest feedback fromteam members, Chairs, mentors, consultants, andother CEOs. They pursue this self-awareness to
expand their relational intelligence so that they
can create highly adaptive organizations.

It starts
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5This report is the start of a series of perspectives
drawing on the rich data and reflections of
our CEO study. It presents the clear voices ofparticipating CEOs, alongside Egon Zehnder’sown views on the profound shift underway in theessentials of CEO leadership.

1,000
CEOs worldwide
shared their reflections.

Complexity and rapid change
are reshaping business—and theCEO’s role
“I’m really beginning toquestion whether the CEO job
is still worth it.”This frank admission by one of your CEO
peers highlights how the flux and complexityof our times are impacting leaders at a deeply
personal level.
Nine in ten of our respondents agreed that, inrecent years, the CEO has moved into the centerof louder, more diverse and diverging voices—“atsunami of information and opinion,” as one ofyour peers put it. Most said their organizations
faced accelerated decision-making and change,along with greater economic uncertainty. As
another CEO told us:

90%

have moved into the centerof louder, more diverse anddiverging voices.

“Managing a diverse set ofdifferent and often conflicting
views, often shared forcefully
and to a wide audience, has
become the norm.”

Of course, challenge and disruption can be asource not just of stress but of positive energy.
Many of the CEOs we spoke to said that they had
found the upheavals of the past year to be a spurfor learning and change. As one said, the past year
has presented an “opportunity to think afresh of acompletely different way of doing business.”

Most CEOs have increasingly foundthemselves caught between diverse anddiverging voices

31%

Yes, to agreat extent

59%

To someextentHardlyat allNot
at all8%2%
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7

Yet the collision among the COVID-19
pandemic, calls for social justice, and mounting
environmental concerns has stretched CEOs
immensely. These challenges come on top of
megatrends that are disrupting longestablished business models: The rapid advanceof technology, coupled with fast-changing
customer demands and the emergence of
new competitors, require CEOs to innovate at
unprecedented pace and scale.
In this new phase of history, one where thedominant theme is complexity, CEOs are forced
to rethink tried-and-tested approaches toleadership. As one of your peers told us:“The [CEO] job is different
than it used to be. It requires
operating at, and moving
through, all levels of theorganization. It requires
understanding of technology
and its disruptive impact, ofthe new generations coming
into the workplace, andof the change in customer
expectations.”
Indeed, the role has changed. CEOs, especiallythose leading the most globally connectedorganizations, face an ever-expanding series
of intricate puzzles—which stakeholders andsocieties expect them to solve. In innumerable

conversations over the past year, we havewitnessed first-hand how this new reality has
challenged, and sometimes unsettled, many
leaders. As one highly experienced CEO told us:“When you become a CEO,you don’t belong to yourself
anymore.”Egon Zehnder’s Chair, Jill Ader, says that manyof the CEOs she counsels are wondering: “Am I
enough?” Some CEOs have gone further, telling
us they are disillusioned or burnt out. One ofyour peers forecast that “there will be significant
turnover in the CEO ranks” in the months andyears ahead. Our research indicates that they arelikely to be proven right (see sidebar).
That said, most of the CEOs we engage with arestrongly committed to the role, ready to tackle
today’s challenges and to learn to lead in new
ways. In our view, the CEOs who succeed intoday’s fast-shifting world will be those who
summon the imagination, courage, and resolve
to work on the system, rather than in it. Visionary
CEOs embrace the role of architect rather thanoperator; in doing so, they can inspire theirorganizations, drive value-creating change, andfind meaning in their evolving role.

CEO departures—more
frequent and sudden
Egon Zehnder’s analysis of 214 large,
publicly traded companies worldwide
found that half of them had appointed
three or more CEOs in the decade from 2011
to 2020. What’s more, CEO departures are
becoming increasingly frequent: Almost
every year since 2011 has set a new record,and 2021 looks likely to break therecord again.

Volatility in CEO tenure

48%

39%

3 or more CEOs
2011-2020

Emergency
departureAn alarming proportion of the CEOs who
leave the role do so unexpectedly. Fully 39
percent of leadership transitions in thecompanies we studied were emergency
departures—the CEO suddenly resigned
or was fired, or caught the board off guard
and did not extend their contract. Sadly,a significant number of CEO departures
were due to serious illness or death.

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Successful transformation
starts with the CEO
In the face of complex and rapid change, acommon response by leaders is to try to do more
and move ever faster—but that’s unlikely to besustainable, or the route to the wisest answer.
Instead, many of your CEO peers told us they wereslowing down and considering how to do things
differently. As one said:“You can’t expect everything
to change whilst you staythe same. Leadership takes
personal development andevolution, at the heart ofwhich is curiosity in termsof learning and listening towhat is really going on inyour teams and the world.”

Indeed, our most striking finding is the nearunanimous agreement among a thousand leadersthat, “As CEO, I need the capacity to transformmyself as well as my organization.” What’smore, nearly 80 percent of CEOs strongly agree
on the importance of this “dual journey” of
personal and organizational change. Previously,
a majority of CEOs accepted this statement, with
26 percent agreeing strongly. Now, just a few
years later, three times as many strongly identify
with the need to work on themselves—and thereis near-total unanimity among all CEOs that thisdescribes their situation.

CEOs strongly agree: Personal andorganizational change matter morethan ever

Our study shows that CEOs are committed toself-reflection and hungry for feedback: They
know they need to stay open-minded if they are
to broaden the solution space. The CEOs’ personal
development has come to the fore as the route
into evolving their ability to lead—and many
are also driving far-reaching change across theirbusinesses. As another of your CEO peers told us:“We have sped up all our transformation projects
aiming to build a future-proof organization.”

78%
19%
3%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree

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1%

When we asked the CEOs to reflect on the
Achilles’ heels their teams had alerted them to,by far the most common issue was their capacity
to relate to others effectively and authentically.
That, in turn, appears to be making it harder forCEOs to inspire their people and lift the collective
ambition of their organizations. Your peers told
us that this was a key priority, but many admitted
they were struggling: 80 percent reported
challenges in pacing change, focusing theirteams, and bringing people along with them.
Again, the key to unlocking this conundrum lies
within: It requires honest self-examination of aCEO’s approach to leadership.
Large numbers of CEOs are also struggling tobuild cohesion with their executive teams andboards—a further relational challenge. Just 44
percent of CEOs said they were fully aligned with
their teams, and even fewer said the same about
their boards. As one of your fellow CEOs told
us: “With massive transformation happening incurrent times, it is taking some time to get fullalignment with all members of the executive
team, as there are more discussions
and opinions.”

CEOs’ alignment with the
Executive TeamWe are convinced, however, that every CEO—regardless of tenure or background—has thepower to reflect on their current way of leadingand pinpoint the shifts needed to renew theirapproach to leadership and inspire theirorganizations to thrive in a new era. If change
starts with the CEO, then the choice rests
with you.

8%
51%
40%

0%
Increasing degree of alignment

Many CEOs are facing up to their blind
spots—and finding the courage to re-examine
leadership approaches that have served themwell throughout their careers, but which weredeveloped in another era. Even though CEOs arenear-unanimous that transformation is essential,
they are at very different stages of their journeys.

From fear to courage—
Beth’s journey oftransformation

CEOs’ alignment with theBoard of Directors

Increasing degree of alignment

It’s no easy matter to realize such far-reachingchange: Quite apart from the natural inertia toorganizational transformation, CEOs are often
held back by blind spots of their own.

11

2%
52%
46%

“Transformation” can be a hazy concept. To
clarify what it means in practice, it’s worth
relating the story of “Beth,” a CEO we havecoached—and the first woman to lead a major
global firm in her industry. She found that thehard-driving, perfectionist leadership stylethat had served her so well was delivering
diminishing returns; it also felt increasingly
disconnected from the warm, humanapproach to relationships that animated herlife at home.
Like many of the CEOs who participated in ourstudy, Beth acknowledged the need to selfreflect. She identified several issues that were
holding her back, notably a binary split in her
leadership persona: “Performance Beth” versus“Visionary Beth.” The performance persona,focused on achievement and results, wascrowding out her more strategic, inspirational,
visionary qualities — which, when Beth gave
those full voice, enthused those around her
about their larger mission.
Beth’s journey of transformation saw her
integrate these two modalities, and in doing
so build connections with her people and drive
them to achieve. Far from requiring more
effort from Beth, this shift released tension andunlocked new energy. Where before she’d been
plagued by doubt and fear, now she felt moreable to take risks. She was able to put down her“shield,” allowing herself to be more authentic
with her team and more vulnerable and truthtelling with the board. She told us recently:“That transformational journey helped me
stretch to my full capacity.”More on the “Architects of Prosperity” canbe found at https://www.egonzehnder.com/ceoarchitects-of-prosperity.

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13

The courage to take a stand:
When will CEOs deliverprosperity for the many?
In their journeys of transformation, some CEOs
are making bold choices—and taking a stand for a
new way of doing business. Emboldened by theirpeers, these CEOs are joining and increasingly
leading a movement. One CEO, speaking for manyof your peers, told us:“I believe business andbusiness leaders needto think more about thechanging expectations ofsociety—the winner takes
all view of business, thelevels of inequality that the
pandemic has exposed within
and between countries,
environmental change as
an existential risk not atheoretical one. The world ischanging and business needs
to change with it.”
However, even as public expectations of business
and CEOs stretch far beyond profit, the large
majority of your peers continue to prioritize
the financial performance of their enterprises

above all else. And, despite the novel challenges
of today’s environment, two-thirds of CEOs say—surprisingly—that the metrics that steer theirdecisions have stayed consistent over the past
several years.

In CEO decision-making,financial metrics rank first

1st Financial(e.g., profitability, TSR,
share price, sales)

2nd Growth(e.g., market share, M&A,
geographic expansion)

management
3rd Talent(e.g., considerations linked todiversity, leadership capability)

4th Innovation(e.g., new technologies, % profit fromnew products, R&D budget)and Safety
5th Health(e.g., incident rates, % improvement,
stress-related absence)

Social
6th Environmental,
and Governance(e.g., carbon footprint, diversity & inclusion,
human rights concerns, social activism)Two-thirds of CEOs said
that the metrics that steer
their decisions have stayed
consistent over the past
three years despite the growingpressure from society.

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The problem, as our study shows, is that many
CEOs and boards have yet to achieve clarity on
the new destination they say they are trying toreach. Financial performance and shareholder
value remain the predominant decision-drivers
for CEOs—often because boards still focus on
those metrics above all others—even if many ofyour peers emphasize the increasing urgency ofaddressing environmental and social challenges.
Whether or not CEOs are ready to make that
leap—and lead their boards into a new businessera—more and more parties expect them toarchitect “prosperity for the many.” It’s clear fromour conversations that increasing numbersof your peers believe that should be their goal.
The most forward-looking leaders are looking
beyond traditional markers of performance andputting increasing focus on game-changing
innovation, longer-term growth, and broader
stakeholder interests.
For nearly every CEO we spoke to, the disruptionsof the past year only accelerated this shift. As
one said: “I think it has helped me bring greater
clarity around the purpose of the organizationand how I drive it. Strategically it has helped me
get clear on what matters for all stakeholders. A
crisis enabled me to see what was possible when
the business gets aligned behind common goals.”15

Bolder, more courageous CEOs are seeking new
ways to achieve the best of two worlds: rather
than seeing performance and transformation
as trade-offs, they grasp that to transform isto perform. One of your CEO peers put it in thefollowing words:“It is a critical time toreflect on what the future
should be and how we as
leaders can contribute. We
will be emerging from thisdebilitating pandemic—butwill be going into the colossal
impact climate change will
invoke on the planet andpeople. Yet we have humaningenuity and innovation
driving technology to newheights, allowing us to achieve
unimaginable feats—much ofwhich can be harnessed forthe good. The question for us
leaders is to figure out where
and how we can contributethe most.”“For me, the past year has
reinforced the need to makequick decisions without becoming
overbearing. It has brought the church
back to the center of the village on
what is important and what is not.
It has stressed the need to be veryaligned between personal andprofessional life in order to be
professionally effective.”

What mattersfor leaders—CEOs
speak“Inspired and motivated people
working in teams with great trust are
the biggest asset and create magic andachieve extraordinary things. If I do notcare for people all leadershipis meaningless—leadership is about
people. The prime objective of all humanendeavor is well-being of people andlife in general. If we keep that bigger
objective right, we will do the rightthings and we will have motivatedand inspired people.”“I don’t think we know what
the next decade will demand
from CEOs, but I’m hopefulthat it accelerates the shift toa more purpose-driven andemployee-centered
way of leading.”

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17

Adaptive, relational, andself-aware: the capacities ofmore evolved leaders
How will CEOs navigate through complex
times, realize the promise of personal andorganizational transformation, and bridge thechasm between today’s decision-making drivers
and those that the future demands?

That, in turn, requires CEOs to hone theircapacity for self-awareness, drawing on the helpof others to illuminate their blind spots andhabitual responses, as well as their sources ofenergy and meaning.

Egon Zehnder’s work on over 2,000 CEO
mandates over the past few years shows that themost successful CEOs today are those who havemastered the capacity to be adaptive, relational,
and self-aware. These three capacities do not
replace more traditional, yet equally vital,
leadership strengths such as top-notch strategic
skills and a relentless performance orientation—
but they do require more considered attention
than they have received until now.

Until now, most business leaders have focused too
little attention and intention on this interlinked
trio of capacities. Yet these capacities arefundamental elements of every human being’s
ability to function effectively in challenging
environments—and their potential to thrive as
they create positive change around them.

These capacities are interdependent. To develop the
curiosity, courage, and resilience required to
be truly adaptive, CEOs need to master the
relational capacity to listen, bring a broader
set of stakeholders into the conversation,communicate authentically, and inspire others.

CEOs who do so unlock a higher level ofleadership—opening the aperture to new
possibilities, creating new clarity of purpose,and generating energy for change and renewal.
That, in turn, enables them to live up to theambition of transforming themselves totransform the business.

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19

Adaptive—the mindset and ability
to keep evolving“Have more courage, try more,adjust quickly if necessary.”That’s how one CEO summed up the adaptive
capacity that today’s complexity requires ofleaders. Another CEO had the following advice for
their peers:“Long-term plans are good for
a common goal, but don’t get
too caught up in them—themarket and society change tooquickly. There should be no
problem questioning things;
don’t hold back from taking
new initiatives.”
We agree. Success in today’s world calls for anunquenchable appetite for learning, foresightto predict and sense future challenges andopportunities, and the ability to respond byenergizing and stretching the organization. That
curiosity, and explorer mentality, open the gate todiscovering the different paths forward.
In our experience, the most effective CEOs
constantly seek to connect the dots, discovering
patterns that tie together the challenges andopportunities facing the business, the industry,
supply chains, and broader societal needs.
In doing so, they discern and create the mostcompelling choices for how the business canprovide new sources of value—now and in the
future. By distributing leadership, adaptive CEOs
also create space for, and challenge, their teams.

Just as importantly, truly adaptive CEOs
understand what it is that they and theirorganizations need to stop doing: They
acknowledge the risk of fragmented focus andthey put their energy into what matters most—building a future of prosperity for more of theirstakeholders. Several CEOs told us that the past
year had given them some refreshing discoveries
in this regard. One said: “A lot of things wethought we needed—we don’t need! When you
get new insights, you have to pivot collectively.”
A key priority for the CEOs in our study—anda fundamental aspect of adapting to new
possibilities—is to lift the collective ambition of
their organizations. But your CEO peers reported
several blind spots in this regard. These included
not pacing rates of change—cited by a remarkable
80 percent of CEOs—as well as pursuing too manydifferent ambitions. As just one of many CEOs
told us:“[I am told I apply] toohigh a level of ambition,
too fast a pace, thus too muchpressure, too little empathy
and sensitivity for theother person.”As this comment suggests, CEOs are ready to leadchange and improvement, but many have not yet
succeeded in inspiring the level of followershipmost needed now.

80%of CEOs reported blind spots
in how they pace change intheir organizations.

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21

Relational—deepening connections,broadening conversations“Leadership is increasingly
about humanity, sharing
imperfection, being authentic
and empathetic.”
This comment by one of your fellow CEOs
powerfully highlighted the importance ofrelational skills—which include being real,
listening to a broader set of stakeholders,
communicating with curiosity and empathy, andbuilding mutual trust and respect. And when

we asked your peer CEOs about their energy forcultivating and nurturing relationships, most
put the greatest focus on relating to others with
empathy and authenticity.
We should emphasize, though, that authentic
relationships can and must encompass honest
dialog and hard truths. They also embrace giveand take in equal measure—a crucial insight for
CEOs, who face constant demands from many
stakeholders. Effective CEOs give with empathy
and inspiration, and they are unapologetic inasking for commitment and performance.

CEOs say their biggest blind spot is not listening45%

Not listening

17%

Being too softon people

13%

Lacking empathy

Under-investing in
relationships

Not giving feedback

9%7%Communicating
poorly5%

Miscellaneous5%

Base: 500 group CEO verbatim comments that mentioned Relational issues

Commonly reoccurring
verbatim responses
Talking too much, Being
impatient with others
Too soft, Too nice, Conflict
avoidant, Slow to address
under-performers
Lacking empathy, Poor EQ, Tooharsh with others, Bad coachToo task-focused, Failing todelegate, Dislike networking
and stakeholder management
Not giving feedback,Procrastinating on important
feedback, Do not spend time I
should on thisMy communications too
wordy or unclear, People say I
need to communicate more
Intimidating, Poor politician,Too political, Do not get the
feedback I need

By their own assessment, CEOs have a long way
to go in honing their relational capacity. Some
500 CEOs, more than half of all respondents,
reported what we might call a relational
deficit—an eye-wateringly honest response.
When leaders shared recurring feedback
they receive, the top admission CEOs madewas a tendency not to listen. They either usedthose exact words or highlighted behaviors
that preclude listening, such as being hottempered, talking too much, and—by far
the greatest concession—displaying generalimpatience with those around them.

In the experience of many CEOs we haveworked with, investing in greater selfawareness is the route to unblocking such
relational challenges—and to thriving intoday’s more complex environment. Listening
effectively makes it possible to sense more
inclusive, far less obvious solutions; it therefore
rests at the heart of becoming highly adaptive.
These blind spots are normal and natural—anda reminder that relational capacities are the“weakest link” for many leaders.

While it may be customary for those at the
top of their game to regard impatience as aforgivable shortcoming, we believe it is the
single greatest impediment to listening.

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23

Self-aware—becoming more honest,
open, and independent“The past year has made me
more aware of the need to findspace to recenter and refocus.”
Those were the words of one CEO, and manyothers concurred: Among your fellow CEOs, eightin ten now say they find it essential to reflect on
their own leadership style and impact. That’s areminder that leading change starts by looking
inward and listening attentively, cultivating anhonest, open and independent sense of selfappraisal, and committing to continued learningand personal growth.
In our own work in coaching CEOs and preparing
new candidates for the role, we find we’re called
on increasingly to help them awaken this selfawareness. That includes prompting them toreally stop and ask themselves a new set ofquestions that surface their blind spots—andconsider how they will stretch themselves first
before they try to stretch others past the comfort
zone to a more adaptive response. It also involves
learning to let go of patterns that might haveinfluenced their behavior for years—such as thefear of not being seen as successful.
How are your CEO peers cultivating greater
self-awareness? Compared to three years ago,
CEOs today are less satisfied with the amount offeedback they receive. To address this, they are
seeking more frequent, honest feedback fromall sources—leadership teams, Chairs, family
members, other CEOs, consultants, and mentors.

78%

It’s interesting to note that female CEOs aredoubling down on gathering feedback froma wide range of sources, and are significantly
more likely than their male counterparts toseek guidance from fellow CEOs, mentors, andfamily members.

of CEOs said they find it
essential to reflect on their own
leadership style and impact, up
from 66% in 2018.

CEOs are self-reflecting—and seeking more
feedback from all sources

71%

Your seniorleadership team

Chairperson

51%

Partner orother family member

48%

Trusted lieutenant

45%

Independent
board directors

44%
37%

You have to rely on
your own judgment

External consultant

33%

Other CEO/groupof CEOs33%
29%

Mentor (external
or internal)

Someone else

7%
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25

The dual journey
The commitment to feedback, learning, andreflection powerfully underscores CEOs’
realization that they must transform themselvesin order to transform their organizations.
Increasingly, your peers grasp that, for theirbusinesses to grow and evolve, they must growand evolve as leaders.
We call this the dual journey—and our study
makes it clear that it has intensified over the
past year. We find it remarkable, and hugely
encouraging, that nearly 100 percent of CEO
respondents agree that they need the capacity
to transform themselves as well as theirorganizations. As one of your CEO peers said:

CEOs who master the capacity to be adaptive,
relational, and self-aware can use their uniquevantage point, enriched by insights fromtheir teams and stakeholders, to grasp newopportunities and tackle complex challenges.
They recognize that apparent polarities between
people and profit, if approached creatively,
are the engines of value and not just problems
to be solved. And they can travel the path fromold to new models of operation, inspiring theirorganizations and navigating them throughthe transition.

“We should have the capacity
to transform ourselves. Thatallows us to tap into our sixth
sense, anticipate sooner, andget the company positioned
better to stay out in front.
It’s about getting up earlyand looking at what’s goingon in the world—which will
sometimes trigger questions
that go deep into theorganization.”

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27

Egon Zehnder’s 2021 CEO study
Reflecting huge interest in the changing demandsof CEO leadership, our 2021 global CEO study
engaged 972 respondents—more than twice thenumber in the previous round in 2018. Going far
beyond box-ticking, these CEOs provided morethan 5,000 individual, qualitative reflections.

every type of company ownership. They include
nearly 100 female CEOs.
And they range from long-tenured to freshly
appointed CEOs. Together their companies
earned nearly $4 trillion in revenues last year.

We also hope the broader conversation about
the transformation underway in CEO leadership
continues to receive the attention it needs anddeserves. Your peers have much more to say on
the topic; as we share more of these insights, wewould love to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate
to get in touch with us or our colleagues.

Participating CEOs represent every major industry
and region, both larger and smaller firms, andOur 2021 survey engaged 972 CEOs—more than
twice the previous round
First-time CEO

Appointment

Gender identity

48%
52%

10%
88%
2%

57%
43%
Yes

No

Internally appointed

Externally appointed

Male

FemaleTransgender, gender
non-conforming/non-binary,
prefer not to answer

Length of time in role (years)
32%

23%

0-2

3-4

In this research effort, it has been ourimmense privilege to elicit personal reflections
and insights from so many CEOs, across every
industry and region. We hope this report hasgiven you some food for thought about your own
leadership, and the bigger objective that you
are driving towards for your organization, yourstakeholders, and society.

16%
5-6

7%

4%

16%

7-8

9-10

10+

With thanks and best wishes,
Egon Zehnder

To learn more, please go towww.egonzehnder.com/it-starts-with-the-ceo
or contact us for a personal conversation at
ceo@egonzehnder.com

It starts
with theAbout Egon Zehnder
Egon Zehnder is the world’s preeminent leadership advisory firm, inspiring
leaders to navigate complex questions with human answers. With morethan 55 years of experience advising clients on chief executive leadership, weknow that the selection of a CEO is the midpoint of a process, not the end.
That’s why we partner with our clients to deliver comprehensive and effective
CEO transition, succession, development and onboarding support. We helporganizations get to the heart of their leadership challenges and offer honest
feedback and insights to help leaders realize their true being and purpose.
Our 525 consultants across 63 offices and 37 countries are former industry andfunctional leaders who collaborate seamlessly across geographies, industries
and functions to deliver the full power of the Firm to every client, every time.
We believe that together we can transform people, organizations, and theworld through leadership.
For more information visit www.egonzehnder.com and follow us on
LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Editors: Kati Najipoor-Smith and Dick Patton in collaboration with
Egon Zehnder’s global CEO Advisory Group
Editorial team: Colin Douglas, Nathalie Hourihan
Special contributors: Hampton Carey, Kanchan Harvey, Kathrin Heinitz, Martin
Klusmann, Mark Stuart-Smith, Julian Misell
Design: Moving Brands, Richard Khuptong, Markus Schuler© 2021 Egon Zehnder International, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording orotherwise—without the prior permission of Egon Zehnder.