Serious leadership decisions
deserve serious thinking.

By Rob Andrews Here's what really happens when a COO search goes wrong. I've seen it so often that I can recall the pattern from memory. The board signs off on the new role. The CEO meets with me to explain what they need, and it all sounds reasonable: a smart operator, a strong communicator, someone to handle daily operations so the CEO can focus on growth. We create the job profile, start the search, and bring in four strong candidates. The CEO chooses one, and the new COO

By Rob Andrews There is a problem hidden within every high-performing organization, and it lives precisely where you would least expect it. In your best people. These are not your underperformers or disengaged employees. They are often your best people. The ones with elite degrees, stellar track records, a genuine commitment to excellence, and the ones you count on most. Chris Argyris first identified this problem over thirty years ago in a landmark article in the Harvard Bus

There is a conversation happening in boardrooms and C-suites across the country right now. It sounds something like this: "We need to do something with AI." Someone nods. A few people look at their phones. The CEO says he wants an AI person on the board or wants to hire a Chief AI Officer. The meeting moves on. The instinct is right. In most cases, the execution is not. I work with CEOs and boards on leadership, culture, and organizational health. Over the past several mo

By Rob Andrews In January 2026, the CEO of a Fortune 500 insurance company gathered his senior team to settle a single question: who owns AI? The CIO said it was technology infrastructure. The COO said agentic AI lives inside workflows. The CFO pointed out that AI was already making underwriting decisions with direct P&L impact. The CRO flagged autonomous systems as novel risk exposure. The CHRO called agents a new category of workers. The CDO reminded the room that none of i

In today's competitive landscape, the right leadership can make or break an organization. As companies strive for growth and innovation, the demand for effective leaders has never been higher. However, finding the right candidates for leadership roles is a complex process that requires strategic planning and execution. This blog post will explore effective executive search strategies that can lead to leadership success. A modern conference room designed for strategic discussi

In today's competitive job market, retaining talented employees is more crucial than ever. Companies are not just competing for customers; they are also vying for the best talent. A significant factor in employee retention is the workplace environment. Creating an engaging workplace can lead to higher job satisfaction, increased productivity, and ultimately, lower turnover rates. This blog post will explore effective strategies for building engaging workplaces that foster emp

Creating a workplace culture that attracts top talent is no longer just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. In a competitive job market, organizations must differentiate themselves to draw in the best candidates. This blog post explores the essential elements of a strong workplace culture and provides actionable strategies for building an environment that not only attracts but also retains top talent. A peaceful outdoor area designed for relaxation and creativity. Understanding

There’s a wide gap between leaders who talk about culture and those who actually build one that performs. Most organizations don’t have a strategy problem. They don’t even have a talent problem. What they have is a leadership problem—specifically, a failure to consistently practice the behaviors that drive performance over time. That gap is where most companies live. And every once in a while, you come across someone who has spent an entire career on the other side of it. Tha

By Rob Andrews Abstract For decades, most executives have operated under the assumption that prioritizing financial performance, revenue growth, margin expansion, and shareholder returns is the most direct path to profitability. Yet a growing body of empirical research reveals a counterintuitive truth: organizations that explicitly pursue profit as their primary aim often underperform those that prioritize principle-based cultures, human development, and purpose-driven leader

By Rob Andrews Most organizations say they are good at spotting talent. They say they know who their high-potential leaders are. They say they build programs around them. They say they invest in them. They say they fast-track them. And yet, research tells a different story. In a well-known Harvard Business Review article, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman found that more than 40% of people placed in high-potential programs were below average in actual leadership effectiveness. S

By Rob Andrews Here’s the truth. Service worker churn is rarely a mystery. It is usually a system failure. And two systems drive most of the pain: how we schedule people and how we hire them. HBR just published new research on scheduling that every service executive should read. Gallino and Apaolaza analyzed roughly 280 million shifts across 1.3 million employees in 20 major U.S. retail chains. The headline is simple. “Fix the schedule” is not one fix. Different scheduling is

By Rob Andrews, focusing on strategies for Improving Board Performance in 2026. If you spend enough time in boardrooms of any flavor, whether public, private, PE-backed, family-owned, or nonprofit, you eventually notice a strange phenomenon. Everyone is smart. Everyone is accomplished. Everyone has opinions. Yet somehow the board itself is rarely a high-performing team. In fact, some boards resemble a dinner club with nicer chairs and higher stakes. This is not just my observ

By Rob Andrews Every organization says it wants cross-functional collaboration. Very few actually mean it. Many leaders see meetings or a shared Slack channel as the definition of collaboration. But proximity alone only speeds up dysfunction when meaning is absent. True collaboration requires alignment based on shared purpose, mission, vision, and values, not just org charts. When purpose, mission, vision, and values are clear and lived, collaboration multiplies impact. When

By Rob Andrews Last week, we introduced the first five principles of Total Performance Leadership—the foundational disciplines that determine whether an organization ever truly gets off the ground. Purpose, alignment, clarity, disciplined people practices, and stakeholder engagement form the structural backbone of performance. When those are missing or weak, no amount of strategy, charisma, or hustle can compensate. This post completes the full system of Total Performance Lea

By Rob Andrews TPL: The Operating System That Makes the Profit Paradox Repeatable The Profit Paradox explains why principle-driven organizations outperform. Total Performance Leadership (TPL) is how they do it, consistently and at scale. TPL was born to help organizations think bigger, lead with purpose, unify leadership, build elite employment brands, measure what matters, engage all stakeholders, and make more money. A lot more money. But only in that order. TPL is not phil

By Rob Andrews For decades, most executives have operated under the assumption that prioritizing financial performance—revenue growth, margin expansion, and shareholder returns—is the most direct path to profitability. Yet a growing body of empirical research reveals a counterintuitive, yet unequivocal truth: culturally healthy organizations that explicitly pursue profit as their primary aim often underperform those that prioritize principle-based cultures, human development,

By Rob Andrews Law firms are filled with exceptionally smart, hardworking people doing complex work under constant pressure. They are also, paradoxically, among the most difficult organizations to lead. Ask managing partners what’s weighing on them, and the answers are remarkably consistent: declining engagement, rising associate attrition, uneven partner contribution, lateral hires that disappoint, clients pushing back on fees, and a persistent anxiety about profitability. T

By Rob Andrews Every once in a while, you have a conversation that does not feel like an interview. It feels more like two people circling the same truth from different directions. That is what happened during my last call with Roy Spence, Chairman and Co-Founder of GSD&M, co- founder of the Make It Movement, and a literal legend in the world of purpose-driven leadership. We didn’t talk about frameworks at first. We talked about people. About parents. About kids. About plumbe

By Rob Andrews, focusing on strategies for Improving Board Performance in 2026. If you spend enough time in boardrooms of any flavor, whether public, private, PE-backed, family-owned, or nonprofit, you eventually notice a strange phenomenon. Everyone is smart. Everyone is accomplished. Everyone has opinions. Yet somehow the board itself is rarely a high-performing team. In fact, some boards resemble a dinner club with nicer chairs and higher stakes. This is not just my observ

By Rob Andrews, discussing the importance of leadership communication. If you’ve ever nailed a town hall, felt great walking off the “stage,” and then watched absolutely nothing change in the business… congratulations, you’ve experienced the difference between agreement and enrollment. People smiled. They nodded. Some even said, “Great message.” And then Monday showed up, and everyone went right back to what they were doing. That gap is exactly what Alan Barker is talking abo