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The CEO’s role is a constant balancing act. While navigating the phases of their own journey as leaders—as detailed in McKinsey’s upcoming book, A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership—CEOs must also focus on satisfying a wide range of stakeholders. Maintaining consistent, thoughtful communication with employees, investors, customers, board members, and other important stakeholders is critical to their success, and that of their companies. This week, we look at how CEOs can embrace the responsibility of chief storyteller to lead their organizations through disruptive times.

A WINNING PLAYBOOK

If anyone can appreciate the challenges of the CEO role, it’s a head coach. In fact, the average tenure for coaches and managers in the three major US sports leagues is well below that of S&P 500 CEOs. Leaders who beat the odds to thrive in the hypercompetitive sports world can help their business counterparts win, too. Senior Partner Kevin Carmody and his coauthors interviewed more than 25 successful coaches, administrators, and players in US college and professional sports and revealed a winning formula for building—and, when needed, reinventing—teams. This approach calls for leaders to clearly outline the team’s objectives, bring together the right talent and skills, create a playbook for high performance, and build confidence. “The great teams that I have been on, it’s all about trust and accountability, with everyone working toward a common goal,” says former Notre Dame volleyball player Ella Sandt.

Lead by shaping your company’s story.