The CEO Struggle - Part 3: Sustaining the Leader
It’s early evening, and a CFO takes a call. A headhunter has a tempting proposition: a multinational on an M&A drive is seeking a new CEO. Can she talk? The toplines sound great. A prestigious position in an outstanding organization. It's a natural step up. An intriguing challenge.
All these factors matter to an incoming CEO. But they are not enough. The organizational setting will be critical: from the board and C-suite team, to the firm’s higher purpose. So, too, the top executive’s access to a peer entourage, her attitudes, purpose and self-care.
“Usually, these factors are not considered enough,” says Fredy Hausammann, Managing Partner of Amrop in Switzerland. “If you have a legacy executive team and a non-executive board which aren’t ideally configured, you’ll have trouble.” In essence: “If the setting is right, you don't have to worry about the rest.”
When the pressure is on, how can a CEO stay resilient?
So far in ‘The CEO Struggle’ we’ve unpacked the problems that can harm a CEO’s health and performance. A vicious cycle of mind-bending complexity, pressure, and a lack of support set many leaders up to fail. We've unpacked the characteristics that equip a CEO for a sustainable tenure.
Now we ask: what systems should organizations be installing to support CEOs? How can CEOs better support themselves?
Sustaining the Leader
What systems should organizations be installing to support CEOs? How can CEOs better support themselves?
Structures & Systems
The Board
A strong relationship between executive and non-executive bodies is critical. “If one of these pieces is wrong, the CEO will fail.” The board must both support and challenge, maintaining oversight while enabling early warning signals before issues escalate.
“Normally the CEOs I know have a board who are supporting them and giving good input, even if it’s always stressful for the CEO when it comes to the board,” says Emilie Boullet Lacoste. Roland Theuws adds: “Good, experienced non-executive directors know exactly what’s going on.” Yet gaps remain. “Board support is much better compared to 5 years ago, but still not enough,” says Nakki Furuta, Managing Partner of Amrop in Japan.
Trust is essential. Fredy Hausammann warns that without it, “creating a corrosive, toxic energy in the system… it’s a culture not of trust, but of worry.” Instead, “it’s about feeling jointly responsible.” As Sandy McKenzie, Partner at Amrop UK, observes: “So often, CEOs are not getting what they need to support their success.”
The Chair
“Who is the sounding board for the CEO?” asks Roland Theuws, Amrop Partner in Amsterdam. “The Chair is the most logical, but there has to be a click.” Yet, as Sandy McKenzie notes, “there are probably a significant number of dysfunctional relationships.”
Experience can help – but isn’t decisive. “It depends on personality,” says Emilie Boullet Lacoste, Partner at Amrop in France, while Hausammann adds: “The Chair just requires sufficient C-suite and supervisory experience.” Instead, regular contact is key. “I would think it normal… to have a Teams meeting or call… at least once a week… The Chair is crucially important,” says Theuws.
The C-suite team
The CEO role remains isolating. “CEOs don’t tend to share their struggle with the Board,” says Hausammann – making a strong C-suite essential. Weak teams increase pressure and risk. As Lacoste notes: “CEOs prefer to know exactly what they can expect.” Ultimately, “they need people they can trust.”
Team structure must balance clarity and flexibility. While there is no fixed formula, core roles are essential, and trusted peers matter. Hausammann highlights the value of close colleagues: “A sense of shared responsibility naturally follows.”
Making waves
No wonder a new CEO will likely examine the top team, then ring the changes – most likely the CFO, says Emilie Boullet Lacoste “They almost always hire someone they know.”
The CFO’s insight into the organization’s financial circuitry and responsibility to communicate with shareholders intensify the need for that trust. Even if the CEO is free to alter the chess board, problems can surface. Machiavellian players may be actively manipulating their way upward, or tacitly failing to support the CEO. Three quarters of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional.1 “Heads of functions are too often working in silos,” observes Sandy McKenzie. “They may identify different values and goals.” A well-composed, well-running team is “a place of sanctity.”
What can be done?
In many cases, team composition is under par, with no objective assessment to fix it. Yet, an assessment can be transformative. Sandy McKenzie recalls a client whose CFO was heading for the exit. After team improvements, the CFO reconsidered. “Rather than retiring at 55 with a large pay check, he wants to go for another 5-year cycle.”
When it comes to teamwork, Sandy McKenzie recommends looking before leaping, rather like an American football team who spend hours running through formations before a match. Unfortunately, most teams are playing blind. “More often than not, we’ll get a brief on what was wrong before, or now, and what's needed to fix it. They're probably not far off the mark. But it's still gut-led. It's emotive."
Coaching & Mentoring
The Board, Chair, and top team shape the structure around the CEO – each with its own challenges. As we noted previously, self-awareness is critical, but it depends on honest feedback and reflection.
Coaching and mentoring provide that support. Both offer a safe, non-judgmental space for leaders to grow, but with different aims. Coaching builds short-term skills and performance. Mentoring supports long-term development through experience and guidance.
Both are powerful when done well. Coaching helps leaders find their own answers, says Sandy McKenzie: “That place where you can pour everything out and be put back together again with powerful questions is undervalued.” Yet too often, support is inconsistent: “It feels very haphazard, with limited consistency.”
Coaching is still sometimes seen as weakness, says Emilie Boullet Lacoste, and results suffer without real commitment: “If they don’t really work during the process, nothing changes.”
Without formal support, CEOs turn to trusted advisors. As Teperman notes: “Some people want a change… they are not 100% in shape.” His advice: pause and reflect, as organizations will sense when something isn’t right. “I think I’m attractive because I’m human, not an opposer.”
Self Care
The structures around the CEO are often insufficient or underused. What remains within their control is self-care – especially for those who have experienced adversity. As Joseph Teperman notes: “CEOs who went into burnout or depression are vaccinated: they don’t want to be in that place anymore.”
Purpose
“What am I doing here?” In times of pressure, purpose becomes essential, especially when aligned with the organization. It motivates teams, says Fredy Hausammann: “Of course, if the CEO is only interested in his ambition and compensation, this can’t happen.” As Roland Theuws adds: “If you don’t like selling diapers, you’ll be constantly struggling.”
Purpose evolves over time. Sandy McKenzie explains: “Personal purpose links strongly to values and motivators… not getting your needs met is a big factor in exhaustion, stress, and burnout.” A clear ‘true north’ helps CEOs navigate complexity, make decisions, and lead with credibility.
But purpose must go beyond financial reward, warns Teperman: “People are counting the days to get out.” McKenzie agrees: “Once the basics are in situ, it’s about making a difference in employees lives… bigger and more whole.”
Establishing purpose early is critical. Without it, pressure can quickly take over. As Emilie Boullet Lacoste cautions: “Every day, CEOs are fighting with the bank… Their main focus is on EBITDA and growth.”
"Purpose must be about something bigger than dollar signs."
Beware the thinking traps
CEOs must also be aware of the unconscious mental shortcuts or 'heuristics' that we all develop to cope with complexity, especially when we lack information. Whilst these ‘rules of thumb,’ may be useful, they also make us prone to biases which can compromise our wellbeing.2, 3
Work-life balance is a modern cliché and CEOs are constantly urged to ‘set boundaries’. But the pressure to personify the split between work and private lives is yet another performance area to deal with. Could CEOs benefit from removing the partition walls? Nakki Furuta. “Most CEOs I talk with feel that their private and work lives should be more integrated than balanced. As a senior executive, you can’t divide yourself into two people: parent, or CEO.” This doesn’t mean CEOs should lose themselves. “Only you, not the people around you, can detect that you’re in difficulty or danger. You have to neutrally observe yourself.”
Peers
Strong peer networks and trusted advisors provide perspective and psychological safety, says Sandy McKenzie. In practice, however, CEO forums can fuel comparison and anxiety. As Joseph Teperman notes: “People won’t talk a lot about their problems. They’ll talk about their achievements. You can’t open the kimono, as we say.”
Yet well-facilitated, trusted groups can be powerful. Teperman recalls shifting conversations to the “dark side,” revealing shared challenges that were later resolved: “It is a learning tool, a safe space to share vulnerabilities and grow.”
Fitness
Resilient CEOs prioritize time away from pressure – through sport or simple distance. As Nakki Furuta puts it: “it’s about being away from your opposition, your concerns about the company.” Rest, recovery, and mindfulness practices – writing, walking, yoga, or the arts – help sustain balance.
Meditation can be especially powerful.4 At Amrop Jomon in Japan, Zen sessions emphasize detachment: “You should not have any goal or objective. You should be aware of and distanced from any kind of obsession. Just having Zen, the meditation.”
Read the full report
The CEO Struggle - Part 3: Sustaining the Leader
DownloadReferences & Further Reading
1 Tabrizi, B., (2015). 75% of Cross-Functional Teams are Dysfunctional. Harvard Business Review, June 23. A study of 95 teams in 25 leading corporations, chosen by a leading panel of academics and experts).
2 Amrop (2016). Wising Up.
3 Rose Gould, W., (April 01, 2025). Don't Fall for the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Tips for Smarter Life Decisions. Verywellmind.
4 Kwak, S., et al. (2019). The Immediate and Sustained Positive Effects of Meditation on Resilience Are Mediated by Changes in the Resting Brain. Participants in a 4-day meditation intervention were tested against a control group on a relaxation retreat, using MRI scans and two tests: the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS) and Resilience Quotient Test (RQT). Whilst both participants and control groups showed positive CAM and RQT results post-intervention, neuroimaging revealed that only the meditation group sustained the enhancement after 3 months.