Over the past year, I had the privilege of interviewing nine CEOs, each leading through distinct yet formidable challenges – from navigating explosive growth as Europe’s most valuable company to executing turnarounds and grappling with the complex pressures of inflation and the energy crisis. Despite their diverse paths, all these leaders shared one crucial conviction: the power of self-reflection and authenticity to forge strong connections, inspire innovation, and drive real change.
These CEOs’ backgrounds are as varied as their challenges. Five were seasoned company veterans who rose through the ranks, one was a visionary co-founder, and three were industry outsiders. Four had built their careers as CFOs before stepping into the CEO role, and two had inherited the reins from legendary predecessors.
In the lessons that follow, you’ll find their insights, including practical wisdom on leadership, resilience, and transformation from executives running companies based in Europe, the Middle East, and India.
Operating in the highly cyclical steel industry is not without its stresses, yet Tata Steel’s TV Narendran has learned to cultivate a sense of calm.
“I’m very clear that you don’t need to thump a table to achieve what you want to achieve. As long as you’re clear about what you want to achieve, you’re able to communicate that, you can pull people towards that,” he said. “Some of the strongest leaders I’ve admired are Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, and I don’t think either of them thumped the table anywhere anytime – but look what they achieved.”
To stay calm, Narendran regularly reflects on the things that have happened throughout the day and what he needs to do differently. “Because that’s how you help yourself, that’s how you keep improving,” he said. “We are all students of leadership, even if you’re a leader.”
While many of the CEOs I interview lead legacy firms with histories spanning over a century, Marco Arcelli heads Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, a company founded just over two decades ago. With assets projected to triple to $250bn by 2030, it’s the kind of challenge many CEOs can only dream of. Arcelli, an Italian executive, describes it as a ‘dream job,’ but he acknowledges that the rapid growth brings its own set of challenges. His focus is on strengthening the organization by developing talent and speeding up decision-making.
“My North Star is that my job as a CEO is not more important than anybody else’s job in the company, and I try to communicate that,” he says. He spent the first six months on the job visiting all ACWA Power’s sites and speaking to people on the ground. “What I told everybody is, I’m not the CEO. I’m the CFO here, the Chief Facilitating Officer. I would like you to tell me what your problems are, and 90% of the time, you also know what the solution is. What do you need from me and your organization to help you work better? That’s my style.”
HEINEKEN’s Dolf van den Brink believes much of the dysfunction in business arises when people try to act against their true nature. He’s observed cultures where leaders feel pressured to appear strong and tough, even if it doesn’t align with their core selves. “That creates a distortion in how you show up and how you lead people, and people feel it. People sense it.”
Van den Brink also feels strongly that “more and more business leaders should engage thoughtfully in conversation. It’s always dangerous when business gets political. That’s not the intent. But I do believe we need to re-find our voice as business,” he says, calling on other leaders to speak up about the importance of economic competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and a secure future for their workforce.
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen took over the CEO baton of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk from Lars Rebien Sørensen and before him, Mads Øvlisen, two legendary leaders of the company, and admits it took him some time to find his way.
“I think the first year or so I tried to make some changes, but I don’t think I succeeded in actually doing it forcefully enough,” he says. “But as time went by and I felt I was more established as a leader, I think the team also learned that when I have reflected on certain strategic things that we need to do, I’m determined to make it happen.”
Those choices include doubling down on the leadership traits and capabilities needed to help the organization keep up with its sudden growth. “We have invested a lot in getting to know each other in the leadership team. What are my self-limiting beliefs? How do I show up as a leader when under pressure?” he says. “When you get to know your colleagues in a way where on a bad day there is your certain behavior and you understand why they do that, then you can become a really strong team where you compensate for each other.”
Jørgensen has also become a lot more comfortable following his instincts.
“I’m a sensor. I have an intuition for what works and what doesn’t work,” he says. “I still look at facts, and listen to my team, but I am very much driven by my gut feeling. I trust my gut much more today than I did back then. And that’s handy as a CEO because there’s a lot of ambiguity. You don’t have all the facts, yet you are the one that has to make a decision.”
When Margherita Della Valle, a 30-year Vodafone veteran, advanced to the CEO role in April 2023, she knew business as usual wouldn’t cut it.
“I didn’t want to have any misunderstanding that because I am the ‘usual Margherita’ things will continue as normal,” she says. “In my first message to the organization, I had to say straight away, ‘Make no mistake, things are going to be tough because change is tough, and we need to have radical change’.”
A few weeks into the job, she gave the company a stark assessment of its problems and announced 11,000 job cuts – 12% of its workforce – sold its businesses in Spain and Italy and agreed to a merger of its UK mobile operations with those of Three UK.
“All that we have been doing in the last year implied tension and discomfort, but I think all companies need tension and discomfort to be successful and win,” she says.
This includes moving away from what she describes as “an excessively consensus-driven culture” to encourage a stronger sense of ownership and accountability, as well as having the courage to have uncomfortable conversations.
“To win, we need the intensity of a high-performing organization, which means being able to disagree with each other more. And disagreeing can mean breaking eggs. Of course, we can also disagree agreeably, and we are inclusive. I like to be challenged from all sides, but it needs to be a tough, direct challenge and include some tough discussions and decisions,” she says.
When your business is focused on international health and security risk management, resilience is a core part of your DNA. And the person leading the firms should be focused on reassurance, believes Arnaud Vaissié, who co-founded International SOS 40 years ago.
“Resilience is all about being able to be very agile, not to panic, to absorb stress. The job of the CEO is to be a stress absorber because if you do, you will diffuse anxiety. You need to show a road that is going to be successful. People want to be reassured all the time, so to me, resilience is a critical quality.”
Alongside resilience, Vaissié believes trust is essential in any business relationship. “We see so many companies and so many startups failing because the key partners don’t get along,” said Vaissié. “In our case, it was easy because we know each other very, very well, and we like each other. But also, we have different skill sets.”
Just as power grids depending on renewables need backup capacity for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, Markus Krebber, CEO of Germany’s biggest power producer, RWE, believes leaders must manage their energy levels so they can shift up a gear when confronted with a crisis.
“You cannot operate at 100% capacity all the time because you need 100% the moment you get into an unforeseen crisis. So, when you have normal operations, I would say I always have 15–20% reserves. That also calms you down because you know even when a crisis comes, you have some more to put into it.”
Since taking over as CEO of German power company RWE in 2021, Markus Krebber has had to contend with multiple challenges, including supply chain disruption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Even when confronted with the need to make quick decisions with imperfect information, Krebber has learned not to lose sight, amid all the chaos, of the objectives.
“In the midst of the crisis, we did the big US acquisition, and we agreed with the German government to exit coal by 2030,” he said. “So, in the long term, it was not about the crisis; in the long term, it was sticking to your strategic plan. And I’m very proud of the team that we managed it all.”
As CEO of a company whose business depends on having a social license, Jakob Stausholm recognizes the importance of building relationships and restoring trust with stakeholders – something he has had to learn over time and still works on.
“Maybe some people are born as perfect leaders. I’m not born as a perfect leader, but you can learn an awful lot,” he says. “You go out and say, ‘Now I’m the CEO, we’re going to do this.’ And you know what’s happening? Absolutely nothing. You must cultivate deeper connections and bring hearts and minds with you.”
An important part of relationship-building, Stausholm believes, is leading with empathy and compassion. “I do think that it’s quite rewarding to use compassion and empathy to try to understand somebody else and what they’re trying to achieve. It’s when you do that that you very often also can get the best things out for your own company.”
After spending nearly 25 years at the German consumer goods firm – including eight as CFO – Henkel’s Carsten Knobel still had to question if he was the right fit for CEO.
“When I was the CFO, I always held the concept that the CFO or the financial director is a kind of co-pilot of the plane or the company. As a co-pilot, you support the decisions, offer opinions, and have an impact, but ultimately, you’re not the final decision maker,” he said.
Reflecting on his successes and mistakes as CFO, Knobel considered what kind of leader he wanted to be. “I strongly believe in empowerment, enablement, and fostering an open feedback culture. I encourage everyone to be brave and venture into new ideas and concepts,” he explained. “In the end, you’re not winning this game alone. You can have many individual players, but if you’re not working as a team, it’s not possible to win.”
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