44 M C K I N S EY Q UA RT E R LY Dear New CEO, First, congratulations on your new role. This is a true unfreezing moment for you and the orga nization at large. It’s a personal achievement and—when done the right way—a public good. But the path ahead is unlike what many CEOs have faced before, and it will demand new levels of adaptability, resilience, and communication. New and incoming CEOs like you are being asked to take on the job at an increasingly accelerated pace, partly because of new time pressures: CEO tenure is now at an all-time low of 6.8 years. And there’s real value at stake: Research shows that poorly managed C-suite transitions in the S&P 1500 wipe out nearly $1 trillion in market value annually. As Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte has said, “Nothing prepares you for becoming the face of a company. Nothing.” New and incoming CEOs tell us that one of their most common hurdles is engaging a whole new range of stakeholders, including investors, reg ulators, media, employees, board members, and broader communities. You’ll be shifting (seemingly overnight) from a private leader within the four walls of a company to a much more public profile. This shift, compounded by social media and a prolifer ation of new technologies and channels, can make for a steep learning curve, particularly given that only 1 percent of Fortune 100 CEOs have a formal background in communications or public affairs, according to McKinsey analysis. That’s why we’ve put this article together for you. Think of it as a handbook to help you proactively and sustainably engage your stakeholders. We drew on research from our newly released book A CEO for All Seasons , which features insights from more than 80 interviews, and from our New York Times best-selling book CEO Excellence . We also held targeted conversations with more than 20 CEOs, heads of marketing and communications, leaders at public relations agencies, and CEO counselors and conducted proprietary research on CEO read iness across Fortune 100 companies. Here, we share our EDGE approach to stake holder communications: an expanded view of the CEO as a bridge to the external world, a distinc tive narrative that sees the CEO as storyteller in chief, a growth-oriented mindset that empowers a team of ambassadors to cascade the compa ny’s vision, and an engaged posture to strengthen stakeholder connections. You’ll shift from a private leader within the four - - - - EXPANDED: SHIFT FROM PRIVATE- TO PUBLIC-FACING PLATFORMS Developing strong relationships with stakeholders will be critical to your agenda, and we hope you are off to a running start. Our research for A CEO for All Seasons showed that 30 percent of CEO respondents felt more successful in the role if they strengthened relationships with external stake holders in the two years before becoming CEO. As you step into the role, critically assess how to best engage stakeholders. Use your transition to recalibrate existing relationships and forge new ones, creating a through line from strategy to engagement using proactive communication. This is your chance to demonstrate your priorities. Being public facing also means investing more heavily in building a coalition around your vision and new ideas, taking the time to see where your stakeholders are relative to your strategy. For example, one new CEO brought rigor to her engagement approach by categorizing stakeholder groups into archetypes—resisters, champions, allies, and mavericks—that were each treated - - - - Courageous Leadership: Nail Your Firsts