crisis
Leading Through Hard Truths
May 2025
A 40-year-old company faced unprecedented challenges during COVID-19. The newly appointed CEO, with no prior experience in leadership or the industry, struggled to navigate rapidly changing market conditions, internal dynamics, and personal financial exposure. The organization was being propped up artificially, masking the need for bold decisions and transformation.
The Core Challenge
The CEO inherited a complex organization but lacked experience in leading teams, shaping culture, and making tough operational decisions. Misaligned hires and entrenched behaviors prevented the business from responding effectively to market shifts. Without clarity and decisive action, the company risked collapse, yet the CEO was personally invested and hesitant to face the truth.
Getting Stuck
For a period, the CEO tried to keep the business afloat with personal funds while avoiding difficult conversations and structural changes. The organization was too large for its current model, but downsizing, laying off staff, and winding down operations felt like impossible decisions. The lack of leadership experience, combined with uncertainty about industry realities, created a cycle of delay, denial, and unsustainable intervention.
The 3Peak Magic
We guided the CEO through a reality-driven process that exposed blind spots, clarified leadership principles, and aligned actions with truth.
By supporting them to communicate openly, confront difficult realities, and make hard operational decisions, we helped them lead the organization with integrity and purpose, even through downsizing.
The company ultimately finished winding down, but the CEO emerged significantly stronger, more agile, and capable of leading complex change in the future.
Key Lessons for CEOs
- Face reality directly: Avoid masking problems with temporary fixes; clarity enables decisive action.
- Leadership is learned in the crucible: Growth often comes through difficult, high-stakes experiences.
- Align culture, people, and operations: Misaligned hires or bad behaviors can sabotage even the best strategies.
- Courageous downsizing is a strategy: Sometimes shrinking intentionally preserves integrity, resources, and future potential.
- Personal investment is not a substitute for organizational alignment: Effective leadership requires balancing personal commitment with systemic clarity.
