The CEO role is like no other and is the only truly peerless role in a company.
Set the direction
We help CEOs set the strategic direction, including the vision, strategy, and corresponding resource allocation
Align the organization
We help CEOs align the organization, including nurturing a strong culture, designing the organization, and fostering talent
Mobilize through leaders
We help CEOs mobilize through leaders, including designing the top team composition, managing effectiveness, and setting the operating rhythm
Engage the board
We help CEOs engage the board, including managing relationships with board members, ensuring the board has the right capabilities, and preparing for board meetings
Connect with stakeholders
We help CEOs connect with stakeholders, including setting the company’s social purpose, representing the company in external interactions, and enabling moments of truth
Manage personal effectiveness
We help CEOs manage personal effectiveness, including monitoring time and energy, establishing a leadership model, and maintaining perspective
Featured insights
Book
CEO Excellence
This book takes an insight-packed look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders—including chief executives at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony.
Book
The Journey of Leadership
Today’s CEOs operate in an increasingly high-risk environment, expected to tackle more complexity and make bigger swings with no second chances. This has taken a toll: the average tenure of an S&P 500 CEO is at an all-time low. When the pressure is on, how can CEOs reinvent themselves along with their organizations?
Book
Hear from CEOs
As part of our ongoing CEO Excellence research, we interview top executives and McKinsey experts about the challenges of the CEO journey and the best practices for overcoming them. Our resulting Voices of CEO Excellence podcasts feature exclusive conversations that bring to life and build on the lessons from CEO Excellence.
Featured articles
Article
What makes a successful CEO?
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The CEO is the person ultimately responsible for the success of a company. Their job is to develop strategy and deploy the resources to deliver on it.
Interview
The CEO’s secret to successful leadership: CEO Excellence revisited
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Three McKinsey senior partners—and, now, international best-selling authors—reflect on the far-reaching impact of their book, CEO Excellence, two years after its release.
Article
The loneliest job? How top CEOs manage dilemmas and vulnerability
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This article consolidates insights from around 100 senior leaders on five common dilemmas that complicate their ability to lead in the face of competing priorities.
Article
CEO excellence: How do leaders assess their own performance?
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Early results from our proprietary CEO Excellence Assessment Tool offer insights into the key issues facing more than 100 CEOs, mostly from Asia, and where they feel most confident—and most vulnerable.
Featured events
CEO Excellence Forum
This 1.5 day learning forum provides CEOs transitioning into the role an opportunity to access McKinsey’s best insights, tools and experience to shape their agenda and deep-dive into the unique role a CEO plays.
Bower Forum
This two-day workshop is a unique platform for a small group of CEOs or Chairpersons to discuss goals, challenges, and role-specific issues, while counseling and learning from one another.
Featured experts
Carolyn Dewar
Senior PartnerBay Area
Delivers large-scale performance-improvement programs that foster culture change and counsels senior executives making leadership...
Blair Epstein
PartnerBay Area
Helps CEOs and leaders transform their organizations at scale, from strategy to execution
Scott Keller
Senior PartnerSouthern California
Counsels Fortune 100 leadership teams on enterprise-level transformation, culture-change programs, top-team performance, and...
Gautam Kumra
Senior Partner, and Chair, Asia (ex-China)Singapore
Chairman of McKinsey’s offices in Asia; helps McKinsey’s clients in Asia create change that matters, by building leading institutions...
Vik Malhotra
Senior PartnerNew York
Focuses on counseling CEOs and Boards on performance transformation, corporate strategy, governance, growth strategies, organizational...
Joydeep Sengupta
Senior PartnerSingapore
Leads McKinsey’s Center for CEO Excellence in Asia and works with leading companies to transform their businesses
Sander Smits
Senior PartnerAmsterdam
Transforms operational performance and optimizes research and development for leading companies in the advanced industries sector...
Mukund Sridhar
Senior PartnerSingapore
Leads McKinsey’s Real Estate Practice in Asia and Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice in Southeast Asia; co-founder and...
Kurt Strovink
Senior PartnerNew York
Leads our global CEO Initiative to help build great CEOs and CEO counselors and the New York office as its managing partner;...