How to Fail as a New CEO (Without Even Trying)

The 10 Fastest Ways to Sabotage Your Own Leadership 

You’re a new CEO, VP, or member of the executive team. Congratulations. You’ve reached the top—or close to it.

Now, here are ten easy ways to ensure your time in leadership is forgettable, damaging, or short-lived.

Before You Roll Your Eyes…

This isn’t satire. It’s a real warning.

As an executive coach and organizational culture strategist, I’ve spent the last two decades working with leaders in crisis, many of whom never imagined they’d need help.

But somewhere between the champagne toast and the first board meeting, things started to unravel.

Often, the issues don’t stem from bad intentions. They stem from blind spots, ego, or old patterns that no longer serve.

As Marshall Goldsmith famously wrote: “What got you here won’t get you there.”

Let’s break it down.

10 Ways to Fail as a New CEO

1. Believe Your Own Hype

The title feels good, and the respect feels earned. But if you start believing you’re the smartest person in the room, you’ve already stopped listening. Your confidence becomes a wall, not a window.

2. Ignore the Culture

You were hired to execute strategy. To drive growth. To deliver results. And if you think that’s all that matters, think again. Culture eats all of that for breakfast.

3. Move Too Fast

New leaders often want to prove themselves quickly. But dramatic moves made without trust or context often backfire. You may disrupt systems that weren’t broken and alienate people who could have been allies.

4. Avoid Difficult Conversations

You see dysfunction. Everyone feels it. But you try to stay “nice.” You let silence speak louder than truth. Soon, small problems turn into large-scale breakdowns.

5. Cling to Your Old Playbook

What worked before made you successful, however that doesn’t mean it belongs here. Every organization is a new ecosystem. Leading with your past will prevent you from seeing the present.

6. See People as Problems

You’re leading humans, not headcount. If you reduce people to outputs, performance, or KPIs, you miss what actually drives long-term success: trust, purpose, and psychological safety.

7. Operate in a Vacuum

Isolate. Surround yourself with agreeable voices. Cut off feedback loops. This is how leaders lose perspective and power at the same time.

8. Neglect Your Own Development

CEOs need development just as much as frontline managers. In fact, they need it more. Because the stakes are higher and the room for error is smaller.

9. Make It About You

This one’s deadly. If you're more focused on how you’re being perceived than how the company is evolving, you're already off-mission. Great leaders serve. Poor leaders posture.

10. Forget the Endgame

Too many leaders operate day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter, without ever asking: What legacy do I want to leave? You were brought in to lead, not just manage. That requires vision beyond the next board meeting.

The Pattern I See Too Often

A board hires a new CEO to fix what the last one broke. They offer executive coaching—or say they will—and then step back with a “hands-off” philosophy. The new leader, often brilliant and well-credentialed but untested in the top seat, steps in alone.

Without reflection.

Without culture context.

Without support.

They don’t fail because they’re weak. They fail because they don’t adjust.

Leadership at the top is not a reward. It’s a responsibility.

It will either refine you or expose you. And the choice is yours.

If you're new to the seat, or advising someone who is, now is the moment to get intentional. Coaching, culture and leadership development, and honest feedback loops aren't luxuries. They're the leadership architecture you build to withstand pressure and grow trust.

Because ultimately, your legacy won't be your résumé. It will be the people, systems, and culture you shaped while you were there.

P.S. If you want to take your leadership to the next level, check out our Evolve the Leader Within Seminar Series, tailor-made for leaders like you!