What the Best CEOs Are Doing Differently

By Marsha Koelmel, President of Catapult

Dear CEO, you are leading in a moment unlike any that came before it. The complexity you face is unprecedented. The pace of change is unrelenting. And the expectations placed on you—as a CEO, as a strategist, as the cultural anchor of your organization—have fundamentally changed.

This is not a temporary disruption.  It is a total reset in what effective leadership requires at the very top.

What is Causing This Shift?

Four forces have redefined what it means to lead an organization today—and each one requires something different from you as a CEO:

1. Complexity Now Outruns Control

You are expected to make high-stakes decisions faster, with imperfect information, competing priorities, and unpredictable variables.

2. The Workforce Has New Expectations

Employees expect purpose, autonomy, inclusion, and flexibility. Your power and influence must now be earned through trust, clarity, and credibility every day—not assumed from your title.

3. Stakeholders Are More Vocal and Transparent

Boards, communities, employees, funders, and partners expect you to model values in action. Every decision carries both performance implications and reputation implications.

4. Strategy Cycles Are Shorter

You are expected to move fluidly between long-term vision and short-term execution, adjusting course more frequently, with more visibility and more accountability.

What the Best CEOs Are Doing Differently

Across sectors, high-performing CEOs are taking three intentional actions:

1. They Redefine What Leadership Looks Like in the Organization

They set clear, future-ready leadership expectations—and hold themselves to those same standards.

2. They Invest in Their Executive Team as a System

They treat alignment, trust, cohesion, and shared language as strategic assets—not soft skills.

3. They Invest in Their Own Development

Not as remediation, but as competitive advantage.  They seek coaching, diverse perspectives, and sharpened communication skills—because they recognize that organizational performance mirrors CEO performance.  They understand that their growth is not optional; it is the lever that unlocks everyone else’s.

Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

You are the single most powerful multiplier in your organization.

  • When you model adaptability, others follow.
  • When you show presence, the organization steadies.
  • When your communication is clear, alignment accelerates.
  • When you invest in your own growth, the organization grows around you.

Your leadership is no longer about expertise alone.  It is about enabling clarity, focus, and resilience across the entire enterprise.

Your Call to Action

The leadership landscape has changed.  The question is whether you—as CEO—are changing with it.

Ask yourself:

  • Am I modeling the leadership required for the next era, or the last one?
  • Am I creating clarity and alignment across the organization?
  • Am I investing in my own growth with the same discipline I expect from others?
  • Am I building a team and culture that will outlast me?

Leadership today is not about certainty.  It is about clarity, adaptability, presence, and alignment.

CEOs who embrace this shift will define the future.

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