June 2026 Newsletter

Burning Questions from the C-Suite

From a Right Hand: How Do I Manage My Emotions?

I’m guessing you mean “manage my negative emotions.” I doubt you need help navigating the joy and pride and euphoric highs of being a Right Hand. 

But boy, sometimes the discouragement, despair, anger, fear, and frustration are pretty loud. Inhabiting a Right Hand role is an emotional roller coaster even for people who pride themselves on being logical. The stakes are high, the pace is fast, and you're surrounded by intense and passionate people who you care enormously about, especially your CEO. 

Here are two ideas to keep emotion from derailing your productivity and relationships. 

Name It to Tame It

This phrase comes from clinical psychologist Daniel J. Siegel, who demonstrated that emotions get BIGGER when you ignore them and SMALLER when you acknowledge them. People who learn to recognize and name what they’re feeling regain rational control much faster. 

In that spirit, let’s name four emotions that many Right Hands feel and the situations that might induce these emotions. 

• Fear. Fear of failure. Letting down the people you care about, especially the people who work for you and the CEO. These are people who matter, and what you're doing is important. Worrying that they won’t be able to do what they committed to is a big stress for Right Hands. 

• Anger/frustration. Somebody is making it harder to do your job. You're blocked in some way from doing the things you think are important. Maybe it’s the CEO with a new idea that could derail the current plan, which we've already operationalized. Maybe it’s team members who are moving in slow-mo when you need speed. 

• Sadness. Sadness that your own performance, the overall job situation, or the company results are not going to be as good as you thought they would be. 

• Disgust. Disgust that people (your CEO, your team, yourself) just can't seem to do the right things. They're breaking the rules, written or unwritten. They're doing it wrong. 

Get Curious Not Furious

This phrase comes from fractional COO expert Shannon Johnston. 

Curiosity is a great tool for managing emotion. When you give your brain a genuine conundrum that requires it to think, you trick yourself into shifting from anger, fear, sadness, or disgust into curiosity. Once I’m truly curious, it’s a lot harder to be furious . . . or afraid, or sad, or disgusted. 

To trick your brain into being curious, ask yourself one question that is real (not a rhetorical question to  fuel the anger, but a question you genuinely don’t know the answer to). Try these: 

• What situations tend to trigger this emotion in me? Is there a pattern here? 

• I wonder what pressure the CEO is under that I’m not seeing? I wonder what is causing her to be so intense about this request? 

• What would a neutral observer advise me to do right now? What has worked in the past to help me in situations like this? If I were not caught off guard by the emotions here (mine or other people’s), what would I do differently right now? 

• Are there any parts of what the other person is saying that I agree with?

Curiosity is your most efficient tool for regulating emotion because it is relatively easy to deploy. You don't have to show incredible self-discipline. You don’t have to force yourself to turn off the emotion or explain it to others. You don’t have to be a pro at interpersonal stuff. Just ask yourself a curiosity question, and your brain will kindly step in and do the rest. 

Links: 6 Universal Emotions and Heather Anderson: emotional intelligence expert

Famous Right Hands: The Wheel of Time

If you've ever watched a CEO and Right Hand struggle over authority, go spend a few evenings with Robert Jordan’s 14-book series, The Wheel of Time (or if you’re not a reader, check out the TV version). Main character Moiraine Sedai has a Warder or protector, Lan Mandragoran. Moiraine is clearly the one with the grand vision. She decides where the group is headed, what threats matter, and what must happen next. She’s the Lead. 

But Lan isn't just a bodyguard carrying out instructions. He's a trusted advisor, operational leader, intelligence gatherer, and sometimes the only person willing to tell Moiraine hard truths. A Right Hand is not just another set of hands. They are another brain in the room. They use their own talents to extend the Lead's reach, judgment, and capacity.

Another thing Moiraine and Lan do well is that neither spends much time worrying about who gets the credit. Modern organizations often get tangled up in title anxiety. But Moiraine and Lan understand something executive pairs sometimes forget: the purpose of the relationship is results. When both people understand the mission and are focused on maximizing outcomes, the relationship becomes less political and more powerful. 

Links: Warders Explained, The Bond Between Aes Sedai and Warders

Hit reply to this email to tell us what famous Right Hands you’d like to see featured in future newsletters.

News

The Audible format of our book, Winning Together: How CEOs and Right Hands Build a Relationship That Works, has been recorded and is in final production. We will let you know as soon as it’s available. It’s narrated by Heather’s husband Kelly. Click here to see a special message from him.

Can We Help?

Getting the Right Hand Right isn't a one-time decision. It's a progression.

Sometimes you need help figuring out whether you even need a Right Hand. Sometimes you need to strengthen an existing partnership. And sometimes you're preparing for a major transition.

That's why we offer three levels of support:

• Diagnosis & Coaching (takes approximately two months) to identify what's really happening and create a clear roadmap.

• Foundation Building to strengthen the CEO/Right Hand relationship with practical systems, coaching, and accountability.

• Executive Transformation for companies preparing for significant growth or leadership transition. 

Whether you're trying to reduce CEO dependency, develop a future successor, or simply make your executive team work better together, we'll help you Get the Right Hand Right® with practical tools—not fluff.

Reply to this newsletter or visit practicalphd.com to schedule a conversation.