"In a wide-ranging conversation with Fortune, they talked about the Shakespearean themes of leadership and turmoil and the feeling that "heavy is the head that wears the crown." For those aspiring to reach the top, Thompson shared the conventional wisdom he'd learned from his mentor, Marshall Goldsmith: "What got you here got you halfway there." (Goldsmith had a New York Times bestseller in 2007 with What Got You Here Won't Get You There.)"
"The transition from being a high-performing executive in a "swim lane" to having the "aperture of having a full enterprise" requires substantial new learning and skill development, Thompson argued, because no matter how great an executive you are or how prepared you think you might be, the stakes are existentially high. The risk that a CEO might "lose his or her head within the next year or so" is "easily like 20% or at the big brands It feels like it's twice that,""
CEOs confront elevated existential risk and must expand from functional excellence to enterprise-wide leadership through substantial new learning and skill development. Boards now expect demonstrable subject-matter expertise and measurable delivery, reducing tolerance for selections based primarily on personal networks. Successful leaders must combine the strengths of existing company culture with bold disruption and innovation, serving as both peacetime stewards and wartime change agents. The likelihood of CEO turnover at major brands is materially higher than in the past, creating intense pressure on executives to adapt rapidly and on boards to hold leaders accountable.
Read at Fortune
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