Russell Reynolds Associates Launches Strategy Decode and Activation to Bridge Leadership Gaps in Business Transformation

June 26, 2025 – Russell Reynolds Associates has launched Strategy Decode and Activation, a distinctive advisory capability that positions CEO and C-suite leadership as the central driver of successful business transformation. “Russell Reynolds Associates has been at the forefront of helping the world’s largest organizations solve their most pressing leadership issues for decades,” said Constantine Alexandrakis, CEO. “Today, transformation is at the forefront of those challenges. Strategy Decode and Activation is our direct response, providing the hands-on, leadership-centric guidance our clients need to navigate and succeed in this era of constant change.”

The new capability addresses a critical market need, as research shows 75 percent of business transformation efforts fail, primarily due to leadership execution gaps rather than strategic design flaws. “This launch comes at a time of unprecedented urgency, as organizations grapple with rapid technological shifts, evolving market dynamics and the imperative to transform faster than ever before,” Russell Reynolds said.

The Strategy Decode and Activation is led by eight key transformation advisors with decades of combined experience in developing efficient change strategies for leading global organizations:

  • David Lange, global development capability lead, Chicago: Brings 25+ years of experience in global executive development and culture transformation
  • Bob Marcus, managing director, New York: Specializes in working with first-time CEOs and emerging leaders on change strategies and culture evolution
  • David Mills, managing director, London: Focuses on leadership transformation for communications and technology companies
  • Hetty Pye, managing director, London: Advises multi-national clients through leadership-led transformation and co-leads RRA Artemis, a CEO leadership accelerator program
  • Sean Dineen, managing director, Boston: Partners with organizations to increase executive team potential and performance, with particular focus on financial services
  • Alain Ishak, managing director, Montreal: Leads transformation advisory projects for multi-nationals across the globe
  • Marie-Osmonde de Lanauze, Paris: Develops leadership-led transformation initiatives for clients with a focus on CEO leadership development.
  • Nicholas Anderson, Hong Kong: Partners with CEOs globally to accelerate strategy execution and transformation leveraging leadership, teams and culture.

The Strategy Execution Divide

Organizations consistently face the same fundamental dilemma: understanding the “why” and “what” of strategic change while struggling with the “how” and “who” of implementation. Below are five key challenges identified in detail by Russell Reynolds’s H1 2025 Global Leadership Monitor:

  1. Adapting to continuous change: Only 47 percent of CEOs proactively anticipate change and strategically plan transformation with long-term outcomes.
  2. Strategy and strategic leadership disconnect: Organizations separate strategy-making from strategy-doing.
  3. Evolution of leadership practice: Traditional command-and-control leadership no longer works in today’s pace of change.
  4. Gen AI readiness: While 82 percent of leaders agree Gen AI skills are essential for C-suite success, only 41 percent feel confident implementing it effectively.
  5. Shifting to enterprise leadership: Moving beyond hub-and-spoke systems to collaborative, cross-functional leadership models.

Russell Reynolds’s Strategy Decode and Activation approach recognizes that even the most comprehensive transformation vision fails without leaders who can decode complex change, align teams around new directions, and sustain momentum through inevitable resistance.

Related: Russell Reynolds Associates Adds Former Accenture CEO

“Great strategy requires clear choices that realistically connect enterprise aspirations and capabilities,” said Bob Marcus, a transformation advisor at Russell Reynolds. “We work alongside executive teams to transform and expand the leadership and organizational capabilities required for their strategy to produce the intended results.”

Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leadership advisory and search firm. Its 520-plus consultants in 47 offices work with public, private, and non-profit organizations across all industries and regions. The firm also conducts in-depth organizational culture assessment and measures the cultural fit of key leadership and candidates in the following areas: arts and culture, global development, higher education, non-profit health and human services, public sector, social justice and advocacy, as well as trade and professional associations.

The firm provides executive search services across all areas of the global media, entertainment, technology, and athletics markets. The firm’s consultants bring the experience and ability to assess competencies and cultural fit of board members, CEOs, senior functional leadership and players, with expertise in professional sports teams and leagues (CEOs, general managers, coaches and players); digital, media and entertainment; and technology-based start-ups.

Related: Russell Reynolds Associates Names Head of Greater China

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

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