When Coaching the CEO Becomes a Matter of Governance – an article by Ivan Reusse, Director of Leadership Advisory at Grant Alexander Switzerland, for Allnews, the Swiss financial news platform

A coach’s legitimacy does not rest solely on their age or on the number of years they have been coaching. It also stems from what they themselves have experienced.

Executive coaching, particularly in service industries such as finance, is still often associated with personal development, performance or well-being. Yet there is another way of looking at it, one that is far more directly connected to the responsibilities of a board of directors: during a major transformation, supporting the CEO can become a risk management tool.

The critical moment is not always the one you might expect.

A company announces a reorganisation. The strategic plan has been approved. New objectives have been set. The organisational structure has been redesigned.

One might assume that the hardest part is over.

In many cases, this is precisely when Phase 2 begins.

By Phase 2, we mean the period following the strategic decision, when it is translated into concrete action: reorganising teams, reducing costs, changing responsibilities, managing departures and appointments, integrating new activities, driving cultural transformation and, at times, reshaping the executive committee.

This phase places the CEO under particular pressure. They must lead the transformation while maintaining day-to-day performance. They are expected to make decisions quickly, communicate relentlessly, manage resistance, balance conflicting interests and, in some cases, part company with colleagues they have worked alongside for years.

At this stage, the risk is no longer purely strategic or financial. It also becomes a leadership risk.

Stellantis and Barclays: Two Contrasting Examples

Large international companies regularly provide examples of this tension between transformation and leadership.

At Stellantis, Antonio Filosa took over as Chief Executive Officer in 2025 against a backdrop of deteriorating performance and an ongoing transformation agenda. He subsequently embarked on a significant reshaping of the senior leadership team, including the appointment of a new CFO and several changes in key positions.

At Barclays, C.S. Venkatakrishnan has been leading a transformation since 2024 aimed, in particular, at gradually reducing the relative weight of investment banking within the Group’s business model and rebalancing activities towards corporate banking and wealth management, which are considered more stable and more profitable. This transformation is accompanied by significant pressure on execution, profitability and capital allocation decisions.

These examples do not, of course, demonstrate that a transformation necessarily requires CEO coaching. They illustrate something else: the deeper the transformation, the more the CEO becomes a critical point of continuity and execution.

This Is Where Coaching Takes on a Different Role

Phase 2 coaching is not “personal development” coaching in the traditional sense.

It is not about helping a leader to “become better”.

It is about giving them, during a high-risk period, a confidential and independent space in which to step back and reflect on their own decisions and behaviour.

– Am I delegating enough?
– Am I still able to listen to those who disagree with me?
– Am I centralising because it is necessary, or because I no longer trust others?
– Am I making decisions too quickly under pressure?
– What signals am I no longer seeing?

This work is particularly important because the CEO is often the person with the least space in which to voice their own doubts.

Their executive committee expects direction. Their teams expect stability. The board expects performance and sound risk management. Shareholders expect results. A demanding set of expectations.

The coach, by contrast, can play a very different role: that of an independent third party who enables the CEO to test their thinking before those decisions have real-world consequences.

Read the full article on the Allnews website. (in French only)