McKinsey · Ideas & Institutions
TIER 4 Sat, 18 Oct 2025 16:32:00 +0000
6 mindsets for success
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| | Brought to you by Alex Panas, global leader of industries, & Axel Karlsson, global leader of functional practices and growth platforms
| | —Alex and Axel
| | | October 2025
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| | The CEO role is at once indispensable and unlike any other in the organization. The scope of the job accounts for nearly half of a company’s performance, yet almost as many new CEOs fail to live up to the role’s demands in their first 18 months. Still, the best CEOs can have an outsize effect on moving their companies from average to top-quintile performers. How do they do it?
To answer this question, the authors of this 2019 classic start with the six main elements of the CEO role: setting the strategy, aligning the organization, leading the top team, working with the board, serving as the face of the company to external stakeholders, and managing one’s own time and energy. They then break down these elements into 18 specific responsibilities that fall exclusively to the CEO. Examples include making bold strategic moves early in their tenure, optimizing their companies’ organizational design by emphasizing both speed and agility, and prioritizing their scarce time by focusing on the work that only CEOs can do.
The CEO role is peerless and, these days, increasingly challenging. But these “leaders of leaders” can boost their capabilities by adopting the approaches that define CEO excellence. To learn more, read Carolyn Dewar and Scott Keller’s “The mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs.”
| | Read our latest thinking on this classic topic
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Much like the seasons of a year, a CEO’s journey progresses through four stages: stepping up to the role, stepping into the role, staying ahead while in the role, and sending it forward to the next CEO. But blind spots can emerge during a leader’s tenure—such as overconfidence early in the job and a lack of strategic clarity later on—and excellent CEOs know to watch out for them. Read our latest insights on the topic from McKinsey Senior Partner Scott Keller. And for more lessons from today’s best CEOs, read McKinsey’s new book, A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership , by Keller and coauthors Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, and Vikram Malhotra.
See clearly and lead confidently
| | —Edited by Drew Holzfeind, editor, Chicago
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