In today's episode, Willy welcomes Carolyn Dewer. She founded and co-leads McKinsey's CEO excellence work, coaching many Fortune 100 CEOs to maximize their effectiveness. She works extensively with clients to drive organizational effectiveness at pivotal moments such as mergers, strategic shifts, and crises. She also leads large-scale performance improvement programs, integrating strategic, operational, and cultural initiatives.

In addition to her direct work with clients, Carolyn conducts ongoing research. Among her many articles are two of the most read McKinsey Quarterly Articles of all time, The CEO's role in leading transformation and The irrational side of change management. She has also authored two foundational publications, Performance Culture Imperative: A Hard-nosed Approach to the Soft Stuff and Breaking New Ground. She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders From The Rest.

The episode begins with Carolyn giving a brief insight into the CEOs she included in her book CEO Excellence. The outliers to her were the lesser-known but equally impressive leaders. Her inspiration for writing the book was McKinsey's landmark event, the Leadership Retreat, bringing together next-generation CEOs to learn from more experienced ones. She also wanted a clear answer to the question, "What does it mean to be a CEO?" CEOs included in the book had to have strong performance, a six-year tenure, and good reputational risk. Winning to an elite CEO looks different from the regular ones. One point is setting direction – being bold and reframing what winning looks like. She cites Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga recalibrating the company's focus from the credit card market to "killing cash." She also mentions Herbert Hainer of Adidas, bringing the brand back to its deep sense of purpose, creating the best products with science and technology. Another note-worthy CEO was Hubert Joly of Best Buy, shifting the focus on the customer experience and delivering value in-store that other stores can't do. He put into action the filter of four circles: what the world needs, what you're good at, what you're passionate about, and how you can make money. This philosophy can be used in any decision-making in one's career. Best Buy also allowed an on-site presence for brands like Apple and HP. An excellent CEO knows what you can do best, where you can add the most value in 24 hours, and where you can empower others instead of doing things yourself. The best CEOs have micro habits that propel them to the top. Aside from boldness and courage, it was also talent, culture, and design – treating the soft stuff as the hard stuff – and recognizing how they can help the directors and the board help them run the business. Mentioning Microsoft's Satya Nadella embodied the characteristics necessary for an excellent CEO, one of which is transparency. When asked why the CEO job is lonely, he said nobody underneath you could see what you can see, driving home the importance of letting others know about it. Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon dedicates an hour of his meeting to share what keeps him up at night about the company. Knowing which people on your board have expertise that can help you and be part of an extended partnership is vital.