crisis
From Boardroom Chaos to Profitable Growth
July 2025
A 20-year-old food and beverage company was at a crossroads. A new CEO, stepping into their first-ever leadership role, faced the challenge of guiding a business steeped in decades of entrenched habits and cultural norms. What started as a leadership transition soon escalated into a full-blown board conflict threatening the company’s stability.
The Core Challenge
The company’s legacy ways of working created friction and confusion at every level. Decision-making was unclear, cultural norms were outdated, and long-standing habits blocked progress. When the board members reached a point where legal threats and division became real possibilities, the company’s future was at serious risk.
Getting Stuck
The CEO was learning on the job while trying to manage a board in crisis. The organization was paralyzed by entrenched behaviors, unspoken tensions, and a lack of clarity in roles and processes. Without intervention, the company faced stagnation, continued conflict, and potential collapse.
The 3Peak Magic
We approached the challenge like a “chiropractor for organizations,” using a holistic, signature toolbox of experience, insight, and methodology.
By carefully mapping the company’s structures, relationships, and cultural dynamics, we revealed hidden tensions and patterns that had blocked growth for years.
Rather than imposing solutions, we guided the CEO and the board to discover the right decisions themselves, creating alignment, clarity, and sustainable change from within.
Through this combination of forensic analysis, patient guidance, and executive activation, the company moved from conflict and paralysis to profitable growth, cohesive leadership, and a foundation for long-term culture change.
Key Lessons for CEOs
- Invest in leadership activation: New CEOs need guided support to build the skills and presence required for high-stakes decision-making.
- Address entrenched culture early: Legacy habits silently shape conflict and block growth; surfacing them is essential.
- High-stakes mediation can transform crises: Even seemingly intractable board conflicts can become catalysts for alignment and trust.
- Structure enables broader transformation: Clear roles, processes, and leadership alignment lay the foundation for organization-wide culture change.
