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Mastering Executive Transitions
Book

Mastering Executive Transitions

The Definitive Guide

Navid Nazemian
New Degree Press (self publisher), 2023
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

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Recommendation

Executive transition coach Navid Nazemian explains that leadership transitions often fail because executives in today’s volatile business world face pressure to align their goals quickly with those of their companies. He draws on business classics – such as, for example, Michael D. Watkins’s The First 90 Days — for his coaching model, The Double Diamond Framework. This model outlines seven phases of adapting as a new executive: “Discover, Immerse, Adapt, Mobilize, Operate, Nourish, and Develop.” Nazemian covers research in the field, the value of targeted transition coaching, practical leadership realities, and how firms can support executives as they move up.

Summary

Poorly managed executive transitions can result in lost revenue and reputation damage.

Failed executive transition rates are shockingly high – 40% of new or promoted leaders on average. The cost to companies that provide failed executives with a golden parachute can be 10 to 30 times their salaries. In recent decades, new CEOs have struggled with high expectations, because companies stake so much on talent. As of 2018, CEO turnover rates had increased by a remarkable 80%, up from only 9.8% in 2003.

To keep up with accelerating changes in the business world, companies now rearrange their leadership ranks with increasing frequency. In the United States, Fortune 500 companies have 28.7 million employees, representing two-thirds of the economy, with revenues of $13.7 trillion. In the United States alone, there are currently 160 million working professionals; executives make up about three million to 4.8 million of those employees.

Organizations face enormous costs, reputational damage, and loss of workforce morale every time they decide to show a leader out the door. In the wake of such disruption, companies must find and onboard...

About the Author

Navid Nazemian is a former HR executive and an executive coach with 26 years of experience working for Fortune 500 companies. In 2022, HR Magazine recognized him as HR’s Most Influential Practitioner, and CEO Today named him Coach of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

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