November 2025 Newsletter
Burning Questions from the C-Suite
From a CEO: How Do I Announce My New Right Hand?
You may be excited and eager to roll out a new Right Hand leader. You probably even feel relief. But how will everyone else take the news? A Right Hand announcement can be positive for you, the business, and the employees. But it is also unsettling as people scramble to figure out how they will be personally affected.
The only thing you can know for sure is that there will be surprises in how people react. Announcements about people (especially senior people) ripple through the company in ways that are impossible to predict. Employees will ask questions that seem to come from left field: Why wasn’t I considered? Is the CEO leaving? Making up answers on the spot probably isn’t a great idea.
Instead, create these 3 documents to give your announcement more science and less improv:
Key Messages. Write three to five important ideas in simple bullet points. These are core points you want people to hear and repeat. The first point or two should give the facts. Example: I’ve promoted Joe Schmoe to Chief Operating Officer effective December 1. The next couple points should explain how the change affects people. Example: Sally, Fred, Jose, and Omar will now report to Joe. The final points are the reasons you’re making this change. This is the most important part, so use simple sentences that genuinely say what you are trying to accomplish. Don’t spout corporate speak. Be honest, vulnerable, and brief. Examples: This will put someone with more attention to detail in charge of our most important processes. Or This will give you the management support you’ve been asking for while allowing me to be on the road focusing on opening our Seattle office. Name only the most important reason, not every good thing you expect. Because you’re selling the change, not justifying it. One memorable “why” is enough to get people on board
Q&A. Take a few minutes to brainstorm on the most likely questions you could get asked. Did the previous guy get fired? How does this affect our bonuses? Is the company going under? Employee questions may be emotionally triggering for you, and preparing in advance prevents defensiveness. Come up with six or eight questions and write a sentence or two answering each. Your first instinct might be to say none of your dang business, but don’t say that. Help yourself by getting real answers on the page. Don’t hand out the Q&A to employees when you make the announcement; instead, keep it for reference so that if people ask a question on the list, you can speak the answer you wrote. You don’t need to memorize the answers because most of the benefit comes from forcing yourself to actually write calm and rational answers in advance.
Checklist. Write down the exact date and time of the announcement, who is making the announcement, and in what setting. Then list the few things you must do beforehand: finalize the compensation agreement with the RH, talk individually to people who are switching managers, notify the board, etc. Then list the things you must do immediately afterward: tell key customers, tell the bank, etc. This keeps you from forgetting something important and minimizes pre-announcing by other leaders who weren’t quite sure when/whether they were supposed to say something. Tip: If anyone is getting a new manager, tell those people individually and privately before the public announcement. Nobody should discover a new manager in a room full of peers.
Sometimes we get annoyed that people go off script, but we forget that we haven’t actually given them a script. These three documents are that script. Share them with all your leaders—including partners and board members—immediately before or after the announcement. That way everyone can tell the same cohesive story over the coming days when they get asked (they will get asked!).
Rolling out a new Right Hand is a big deal, not just for you but for the whole company. Treat it that way. A small investment in pre-planning will ease the transition and help the RH step into the job faster.
Famous Right Hands—Elementary, My Dear Watson
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have instantly recognizable chemistry. They stride through every scene with a balance of brilliance and grounded wit, eccentric genius and steady competence. There’s a rhythm to them: Holmes racing ahead with impossible leaps of logic, Watson reeling him back just enough to make the whole operation function. It’s stylish, iconic, and surprisingly instructive, because beneath the banter and chaos is an outstanding Right Hand relationship.
Sherlock, the man in charge, has a calm analytical view of the world, and can make connections no one else would. Watson, on the other hand, has a practicality that can be easily overlooked amidst the complex mind palace Sherlock builds. In the 2009 portrayal with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Sherlock takes way too long trying to pick a lock in a complex, time-consuming, way. Watson simply walks up and kicks the door down.
In a Lead/Right Hand relationship, it’s important to have a good grasp of each member’s strengths and weaknesses. If you are more reserved and analytical, consider a match that is outgoing and practical. If you thrive on big-picture vision, you might consider pairing with someone who excels at. When we can cover our own shortcomings by combining with someone amazing, everybody wins. And we get through doors a lot faster.
Sources: Medium, Sherlock Holmes (2009)—Referenced scene timestamp: 0:44:38.
News
Heather just became a Professional Advisor for the Prairie Family Business Association, a membership group that has helped family businesses with succession planning, governance, and leadership issues for more than 60 years. If your family business could use some expert advice, check out their annual conference, their Family Business Action Plans, and their peer groups. It's good stuff.
A Very Special Homage
Jack Holmes, the former CEO of several United Way organizations (and, more importantly, Heather’s Father!), turned 83 this month. Jack has nurtured many, many Right Hands in his decades-long career and has been teaching management principles to Heather her entire life, so we asked him to share his Right Hand wisdom with our readers this month.
For fifty years, Jack has grown strong CEO Right Hand relationships through careful recruitment, steady communication, and treating every person as essential to the mission. He is known for selecting talent who are a little green and helping them become rock stars, including his
current team at United Way of Utah County (yes, he’s still working at age 83).
Jack takes seriously the idea that those around a CEO should never be “yes men”; he wants partners who speak honestly and think for themselves. He believes the way to keep any work relationship on track is to put the organization rather than the ego at the center of everything you do. And when you don’t know what to do, stop talking and listen. And with that, we end on a question Jack is uniquely qualified to answer: What advice does he give CEOs struggling to find or develop a great Right Hand? They should ask Heather to help, of course. Thanks, dad! You might be a little biased, but happy birthday anyway.
BTW, we spotlighted Sherlock Holmes and John Watson this month because when Jack served a religious mission in England long ago, he was assigned a companion with the last name of Watson. Elder Holmes and Elder Watson walked the streets of London together . . .
Can We Help?
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 a phased leadership succession plan
Click here to talk to us about your Right Hand situation