The Corner Office

CEO Blog

As boards enter 2026, the conversation has shifted decisively from strategy formulation to strategy execution. That shift mirrors what many experienced directors already know: enterprise value is created not by what the board reviews, but by how it engages. According to the National Association of Corporate Directors, more than 60% of directors identify strategy execution

A CEO I coach once said at year-end: “I feel like I’ve been sprinting for 12 months straight. I’m exhausted — and so is my team. But if I stop, I worry everything will fall apart.” That mindset is common among mid-market CEOs. The demands of leadership rarely slow down, and yet here’s the paradox:

Start-ups move fast because they have no choice. I’ve worked with early-stage healthcare companies building population health platforms, value-based care solutions, and digital wellness models. They didn’t have the luxury of bureaucracy. They had to scale or disappear. That urgency forced them to test, pivot, and measure relentlessly. Mid-market CEOs face a different challenge: complexity

Enterprise value gets talked about in boardrooms all the time — but too often it’s reduced to EBITDA, stock price, or revenue growth. Those matter, but they’re outcomes. True value is built when CEOs align innovation, leadership, and execution so growth is sustainable, repeatable, and transferable. I’ve seen too many mid-market CEOs burn energy on

#6: The Growth Multiplier — Engaging Stakeholders A mid-market CEO once shared with me: “I thought we had a great strategy, but when I rolled it out, our investors pushed back, customers didn’t get it, and employees were confused. I realized I hadn’t brought them along.” That’s the danger of neglecting stakeholder engagement. You can

#5: The Overlooked Growth Lever — Board Effectiveness A CEO once confided in me after a board meeting: “That felt like a waste of time. We spent two hours reviewing financials, half the room barely spoke, and no one challenged our strategy.” That board wasn’t broken. But it wasn’t effective either. And ineffective boards are

#4: The Silent Killer of Growth — Misalignment A mid-market CEO once told me, “We’re moving too slowly. Execution feels stuck.” On the surface, it sounded like a strategy or operations problem. But as I dug in, I discovered the real issue: the company wasn’t aligned. Each leader had their own priorities. Culture was described

#3: Your Vision Isn’t Clear Enough High turnover. Low engagement. Leaders working hard—but not on the right things. These are symptoms of a deeper issue: lack of Vision Clarity. Without a compelling vision, execution scatters, culture drifts, and growth leaks value every day. The Enterprise Value Impact Companies with clear vision grow 58% faster, achieve

#2: Your First Team Doesn’t Work Like One You walk into executive team meetings expecting alignment—and instead get polite updates, turf wars, and half-hearted consensus. That’s not a First Team. That’s a group of silo leaders pulling in different directions. And when your First Team fractures, execution fragments. Growth bottlenecks. Enterprise value erodes. The Enterprise

#1: You’re Stuck In the Business—Not Leading On the Business Leading a mid-market company is exhilarating—and exhausting. But here’s the hard truth: when you spend most of your time in tactical meetings, operational firefighting, and decision fatigue, you’re not leading—you’re surviving. And survival mode leaks value. Productivity slows. Strategic bets stall. Leaders disengage. The Enterprise