A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership
Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink
Scribner/An Imprint of Simon & Schuster (Oc tober 2025)

“The seasons are what a synphony ought to be: Four perfect movements in harmony with each other.”

Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink cite Arthur Rubenstein’s simile to suggest that a successful career for a chief executive officer resembles the four seasons within a calendar year. More specifically:

SPRING: Preparing for selection to become CEO

SUMMER: Transistioning into the role (with a fast start)

AUTUMN: Navigating the middle years between selection and replacement

WINTER: Transitioning out of the role (ending it with style and grace)

The buk of the material provided in A CEO for All Seasons shares information, insights, and counsel that were generated by Dewar, Keller, Malhotra, Strovink and their McKinsey colleagues and from clients that will help you and other aspiring CEOs to achieve these five strategic objectives. Each is preceded by HOW TO

o Become a high-potential CEO candidate
o Make your CEO transition a catalyst for organizational renewal
o Sustain continuation of performance improvement as CEO
o Sending leadership forward successfully, transitioning out of the CEO role
o Leaving for the successor a much a stronger CEO position than the one filled at the beginning

Dewar, Keller, Malhotra, and Strovink focus on these six responsibilites of the CEO role:

1. Vision (“What legacy willI I have?”)
2. Strategy (“Whatare my negotiable expectations od others?”)
3. Resource allocation (“Who on my team will complement my weaknesses?”)
4. Culture (“What is broken that needs fixing?”)
5. Organization design/redesign (“How will I get the organization on board with my vision and the necessary changes?”)
6. Talent development/measurement in key roles (“How will I know if I am, successful?”)

These are amomg the co-authors’ thoughts about the futre of the CEO role:

CEOS will have to

Deliver short term results while investing in long-range performance
Take time to gether facts while moving fast to capture opportunities
Respect the past and create continuity while disxrfuptgingbte future
Maximize value for shareholders while delivering positive impact for other stakeholders
Have the confidence to make tough calls while having the humility to ask for and receive feedback
Build relationships with colleagues while maintaining enough distance to stay objective.

I commend Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink on their brilliant, substantial contributions to thought leadership throughout the global marketplace.  I highly recommend this material to all C-level executives and to those who aspire to become one as well as to others who are now preparing for a business career or have only recently embarked upon one.

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading A CEO for All Seasons: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to and to Appendix A, “Reflection Exercises.”

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.