McKinsey's New Book Maps 4 CEO Seasons for Leadership

McKinsey's new book, "A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership," maps out four distinct seasons of CEO leadership based on insights from over 80 high-performing chief executives. Since its release on October 7, the book has landed on J.P. Morgan Private Bank's prestigious NextList 2026. Praised for its pragmatic tone, a November 2025 review from Geowizard.biz calls it "one of the most relevant leadership books of 2025" because it avoids prescribing a single leadership style.

Authored by four McKinsey senior partners - Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vik Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink - the book distills its core argument into a concise, sub-300-page guide: effective leadership is cyclical, not linear. The seasonal model helps executives adapt their tactics as markets, cultures, and technologies evolve.

How the 4-Season Model Works in A CEO for All Seasons

The book outlines a CEO's journey through four phases: Spring (preparation), Summer (bold action), Fall (reinvention), and Winter (succession). This cyclical model helps leaders adapt their strategy and mindset to changing market conditions, ensuring long-term effectiveness and a strong legacy.

The framework organizes a CEO's tenure into these distinct phases, each requiring a unique mindset and playbook:

• Spring - Stepping Up: Decide readiness, cultivate curiosity, and broaden skills before day one.
• Summer - Starting Strong: Listen deeply, then take one or two bold signature actions within the first 100 days.
• Fall - Staying Ahead: Spot the next growth S-curve early and reinvest before momentum fades.
• Winter - Sending It Forward: Develop at least three internal successors and exit gracefully to safeguard legacy.

This model underscores why timely reinvention is critical. Supporting this, the firm's wider research on CEO excellence shows that approximately 70 percent of leaders feel the job changes far faster than they anticipated (McKinsey Global Publishing 2025).

Reception and Early Impact on Boardrooms

Since its launch, the book has seen steady demand in both hardcover and e-book formats from retailers like Europe's Standaard Boekhandel. The NextList endorsement also signals its importance to financial advisers, placing it alongside key geopolitical and technology reads that influence capital allocation debates.

The book highlights two critical statistics that resonate with corporate leaders:
1. Thirty percent of CEOs fail before their third year, often by mismanaging the shift from the Summer to Fall season.
2. Top-quintile performers can identify a specific, bold move - from portfolio reshuffles to culture resets - executed within their first 200 days.

Why the Framework Resonates in 2025's Volatile Context

Today's board agendas are dominated by generative AI, geopolitical instability, and new work models. The seasonal framework provides a simple diagnostic tool: identify the current phase and determine which mindset - curiosity, boldness, reinvention, or stewardship - should guide the next quarter.

In a 2025 podcast with Walker & Dunlop, co-author Carolyn Dewar explained that combining strong conviction with weekly experiments helps leaders avoid the mid-tenure echo chamber. Similarly, a January 2026 Bizwomen column notes that nearly 70 percent of CEOs underestimate how quickly stakeholder expectations can shift between phases.

The authors also stress that the "Winter" phase of succession should begin years before a formal handover. This focus on early succession planning and building talent factories aligns with McKinsey's broader consulting work on psychological safety and its CEO Excellence service line.

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What are the four "seasons" CEOs must navigate?

The authors map Spring (Preparation), Summer (Starting Strong), Fall (Reinvention), and Winter (Succession).
- Spring is about broadening skills and deciding if you are truly ready
- Summer, the riskiest season, demands bold early moves; roughly 30 % of CEOs fail by year three
- Fall focuses on spotting the next S-curve before growth stalls
- Winter centers on normalizing succession years ahead and stepping aside gracefully

Why do 68-70 % of CEOs say the job differs from their expectations?

Interviews with 83-200 top-quintile CEOs reveal that the role shifts faster than anticipated. Geowizard.biz notes that markets, culture, and technology (AI, geopolitics, hybrid work) change mid-flight, so the book urges leaders to treat each season as a sprint rather than a marathon and to reinvent strategy, talent, and operations before momentum fades.

How can new CEOs avoid the "sophomore slump"?

Listen deeply before acting - many interviewed CEOs run "What are people not telling me?" tours to unearth blind spots. Next, signal style fast: top performers can point to specific, bold actions taken early that set tone and direction. Finally, start succession planning in years 3-4, building at least three board-ready internal candidates to keep the pipeline warm.

Has the framework influenced real-world leadership programs?

While 2025-2026 adoption data is still emerging, McKinsey's client materials show CEOs are already shifting toward servant leadership, deep listening, and early multi-candidate succession plans. Tools such as "strategic jolts" (think Jamie Dimon-style resets) and AI-as-co-executive mindsets are being woven into CEO excellence offerings, suggesting the cycle model is moving from page to practice.

Where can executives find curated takeaways and next steps?

J.P. Morgan Private Bank's NextList 2026 spotlights the title for high-net-worth clients, and the best-of-2025 roundup on McKinsey.com links to concise author talks. For a quick drill-down, the Next Big Idea Club distills five actionable insights from the 200-CEO legacy playbook, making it easy to benchmark your own season-specific action plan.