May 2025 Newsletter
Burning Questions from the C-Suite
From a CEO: I’ve hired a Right Hand. Now what’s my job?
You brought in a capable operator, and now they’re managing the details, approving decisions, and doing the things you used to own. That’s by design. Good job.
So why does it feel so disorienting?
A big reason CEOs don’t step aside when they get a Right Hand is because the CEO doesn’t know what to do next. The new job created when you add a RH is the CEO’s job, not the RH’s job. The RH is moving into your old job, and you’re moving into . . . well, something important. But what is that exactly?
Below are three vitally important things a CEO should do after getting a RH in place.
Be the Spotter. Most CEOs are very good at knowing where to look. You have the judgment, instinct, and pattern recognition to see threats and opportunities. You have an uncanny ability to know when a deal feels wrong or when a customer segment is quietly shifting. You’re the one saying, “Something doesn’t look right here.” Lean into the role of spotter after you get a RH. Your RH will quickly get buried in the managerial details. That’s their job, and you want them there. But they won’t be watching the big picture yet, especially the first 18–24 months. Once they take over tactical execution, the very real danger is that the business will become highly efficient—at the wrong things. If the CEO steps too far back, opportunities get missed because no one’s looking for them. Small problems become big because no one’s identifying them early. And the company moves faster and faster in the wrong direction. One caution: Be the spotter, but don’t be the solver. You hired somebody for that.
Realize you’re still responsible for financial performance, at least for now. One of the biggest risks when the CEO starts to trust the Right Hand is that the CEO takes their eyes off the financials. They worry it might be stepping on the RH’s toes to insert themselves too much, and they want the RH to feel accountable for the numbers. This is dangerous territory. Even if your Right Hand has a finance background, clear targets, and is hitting KPIs, they don’t know enough yet to keep things on track financially. This is likely true even if they’ve come up through the CFO track and have more formal financial training than you. Financial statement analysis is important, but not enough. The RH needs to learn what levers can be pulled to get what results, which parts of the business can be tweaked, where the flexibility is, what things we absolutely shouldn’t touch. How to interpret the numbers for this specific business, not for business in general. Meeting numbers is not just a goal, it’s survival. They need to internalize that getting it wrong could mean we don’t make payroll, or we have to do layoffs. Your job as CEO to the RH, especially in the critical first two years, is to keep your hands on the financial steering wheel until the RH has time to learn that process and urgency for themselves. Feel free to say they’re responsible for financial performance and even compensate them accordingly. But don’t back out yet
Require your Right Hand to report. Now you’re a professional manager: you manage a top executive, the RH. Your job is to make that executive regularly evaluate how well they’re doing their job. Too often, CEOs spend their energy trying to figure out whether the RH is doing a good job, instead of requiring the RH to do that thinking themselves. If you don’t get any other part of management right, do the part where you require them to assess their own performance. It’s the most important thing you can do to help them succeed.
Famous Right Hands
Mary Barra has been CEO of GM for over a decade, leading initiatives to lower emissions, reduce crashes, and push toward electric and autonomous vehicles. One of her key players in that effort was Dan Ammann, CEO of GM’s self-driving division, Cruise. But in 2021, Ammann suddenly left the company. The apparent cause? A sharp disagreement with Barra over Cruise’s strategy. Ammann pushed for a robotaxi-first approach—launching self-driving ride-hailing services. Barra favored using Cruise's tech to support GM's broader vehicle lineup through features like advanced driver-assistance systems.
Misalignment doesn’t always mean somebody has to leave. Many times top leaders disagree on something big, and they dig deeply and passionately into that disagreement until they understand each other’s perspective. Then they lay out a path and move onto it together. Because they chose to, not because they started in the same place.
Could Ammann and Barra have done that instead of parting ways? Hard to say. We don’t know how deep the misalignment went, or what steps they took to fix it. The view is cheap from the bleacher seats.
All we know for sure is that misalignment at the top has to be fixed. It
can’t be allowed to fester until it throws the entire organization off
course. If you’re going to fail with a Right Hand relationship, fail
quickly so you can get on with the repair and rebuild. Or be just as
fast at pushing through to alignment. Either approach is better than
ignoring the problem.
Recommendation
If RH or CEO need more financial literacy, I recommend this book: Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean.
It’s the best I’ve seen for how to analyze and use financial data in
business decision-making. It’s easy to understand and written for
managers, not accountants.
News
The Industry Edge podcast, co-hosted by Michelle Keckler and Danielle Neely of KNC Marketing Agency, delivers sharp insights for owners and managers in “gritty” industries—construction, plumbing, HVAC, home services, and other fields where hands-on work keeps things moving.
This month, Heather was a guest on the show, joining Danielle for a conversation about leadership and managing a Right Hand. What stood out most was Danielle’s ability to truly listen and engage without pushing an agenda—an uncommon strength in the marketing space.
And thanks to Becky Sharpe for the connection. Becky is a decorated Vistage speaker, business owner, and a good human. She and her two capable Right Hand leaders are modeling how to Get the Right Hand Right.
Misc.
If you want Heather to speak to your CEO, key executive, or advancing leaders groups in 2026, please get your booking requests in now. Click here to request your dates.
Meanwhile, take a look at our new video.
What can we do for you?
At Practical PhD, we help companies Get the Right Hand Right so they're ready for top leadership transition in 1-3 years:
Find and hire a Right Hand
Onboard a new Right Hand
Teach an aspiring Right Hand the job
Performance-manage a struggling Right Hand
Create phased leadership succession plan
Ask about the Right Hand Advantage program we offer with One Eighty Collective. It's a full-service hiring, onboarding, and coaching solution for CEO, President, and COO level Right Hands.