Leading Through Volatility: Protecting the Corner Office

Virtual  |  Oct. 28, 2025  |  11:30 AM - 12:45 PM CDT  

We joined for a virtual Ask the Experts program, Leading Through Volatility: Protecting the Corner Office, where experts from Egon Zehnder, Global Guardian, and Grant Thornton shared timely insights on how boards can protect leadership stability amid mounting pressures. Directors examined how the CEO role has evolved in response to geopolitical unrest, cyber threats, investor activism, and burnout, and why adaptability, self-awareness, and authenticity now define effective leadership. The discussion highlighted that CEO well-being and resilience have become governance priorities, requiring boards to cultivate trust-based relationships, recognize early signs of fatigue, and integrate well-being into enterprise risk oversight.

Participants explored how proactive succession planning, both long-term and emergency, is essential to preserving continuity and credibility in volatile times. They also gained perspective on how executive protection now extends beyond the office to include digital exposure and family safety, reinforcing that safeguarding the corner office is inseparable from protecting organizational resilience.

Key Topics Covered

• Reframing the Board’s Role as a Strategic Asset: Why boards must move beyond oversight to become trusted partners who add tangible value to the CEO and executive team.

• Succession Planning in the Age of Uncertainty: The shift from static, event-driven succession to a continuous, scenario-based process that includes both planned and emergency contingencies.

• Bridging the Board–CEO Trust Gap: How accessibility, empathy, and discretion shape whether CEOs see the board as a safe sounding board or a supervisory body to avoid.

• CEO Turnover and Blind Spots: Insights into how overconfidence can cause boards to underestimate their own exposure to sudden CEO departures.

• Leadership Development at the Top: The role of boards in ensuring that CEO and C-suite development includes behavioral growth—adaptability, self-awareness, and relatability—not just performance metrics.

• Resilience through Preparedness: Why proactive planning and foresight, not crisis reaction, are now essential components of governance.

Key Takeaways

• Be intentionally present: Directors must create structured and informal spaces for genuine dialogue with the CEO—time outside formal meetings builds trust and reveals early warning signs that won’t surface in board packets.

• Institutionalize readiness, not reaction: Treat CEO succession as a continuous discipline tied to business strategy, risk oversight, and cultural evolution. The best boards view succession planning as a resilience mechanism, not a replacement plan.

• Challenge your own confidence bias: Even high-performing boards often underestimate their vulnerability to unplanned CEO exits. Conduct “what-if” exercises and document immediate succession protocols before crisis hits.

• Deliver feedback with candor and care: Ensure that CEOs and top executives receive meaningful feedback that balances performance metrics with leadership behaviors. The board can model constructive dialogue that strengthens the CEO’s growth and emotional resilience.

• Focus on leadership energy, not just leadership performance: Supporting CEO well-being is a fiduciary issue, not a personal courtesy. Monitor stress and fatigue as leading indicators of organizational risk.

• Invest time where it matters most: The most effective directors treat board service as a “full-time, part-time job”—remaining deeply informed, readily accessible, and consistently engaged between meetings.

• Anchor every discussion in foresight: The boards that thrive through volatility are those that view resilience as a product of preparation—where every agenda, relationship, and review contributes to readiness before disruption arrives.

Program Videos

Leading Through Volatility: Protecting the Corner Office | Full Program Video | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Setting the Stage for Protecting the Corner Office | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

CEO Succession Trends and the Evolving Role of the Board | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Preparing First-Time CEOs and Building a Safe-but-Not-Soft Boardroom | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Protecting the Corner Office: Inside Modern Executive and Corporate Security | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Cybersecurity in the C-Suite: Protecting Executives, Families, and Data from Digital Threats | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Boards and CEO Well-Being: Treating Leadership Health as a Governance Priority | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Boards and CEO Succession: Building Trust, Continuity, and a Strong Leadership Pipeline | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Key Takeaways: Building Trust, Adaptability, and Preparedness in the Boardroom | Recorded Oct. 28, 2025

Program Resources

NACD: 2025 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission: Building a High-Trust Board-CEO Relationship

EGON ZEHNDER: The CEO Response: Accepting Uncertainty, CEOs Bet on New Levels of Adaptability

GLOBAL GUARDIAN: 2026 Global Risk Map Summary & Key Takeaways

GRANT THORNTON: Build Your Operating Model to Grow with Your Business

Panelists

Dennis Whalen, NACD.DC

President & Chair, Royal Oaks Country Club (Houston); Chair, NACD Texas TriCities Chapter

Mr. Whalen retired as Senior Partner with KPMG in 2020 with expertise in driving innovative growth, aligning risk with strategy, and developing dynamic talent. He served as the lead audit partner on key clients, including GE Healthcare, Pfizer, The Shaw Group, Halliburton, and Koch Industries...

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Nichole Jordan

Central Region Managing Partner, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC; Director, Consumer Technology Association’s Board of Industry Leaders, Disruptive Innovation Council, 21st Century Workforce Council

Nichole Jordan is Grant Thornton’s regional managing principal for its Texoma region, and an inclusive leader dedicated to building a diverse and equitable culture of belonging...

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Heather O'Keefe

Houston Office Leader, Egon Zehnder

Heather O’Keefe heads Egon Zehnder’s Houston office and is a core member of the Firm’s Consumer, Board and Chief Executive Officers practices. Having formerly led the Firm’s U.S. Family Business Advisory practice, Heather partners with family-owned, public, founder-led, and PE-backed clients on governance advisory, succession planning & talent pipeline, board & executive recruiting, and management assessment & development...

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Erick Turasz

Vice President—Strategic Partnerships, Global Guardian

As vice president of strategic partnerships, Erick Turasz helps Fortune 500 companies and affluent families implement a full range of domestic and international duty-of-care safety, medical, and security services...

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