The First 10 Conversations a Turnaround CEO Must Have
Turnarounds don’t start with strategy decks. They start with conversations.
When a new CEO steps into a distressed or underperforming business, the order, tone, and substance of their early conversations matter more than almost anything else. These discussions set expectations, establish authority, surface truth, and signal how leadership will operate going forward.
Miss the right conversations, or have them in the wrong order, and momentum is lost before it begins.
Here are the first 10 conversations that matter, and why.
1. The Chairperson
Purpose: Align authority, mandate, and expectations.
Before engaging widely, the CEO must be crystal clear on one thing: what the board expects, and what support it will provide.
This is where boundaries are set, decision rights clarified, and timeframes agreed.
Key question:
- What does success look like in 90 days?
2. The CFO
Purpose: Establish financial reality.
This is not a reporting conversation. It is a truth conversation.
Cash, covenants, funding headroom, working capital risks, and hidden liabilities must be surfaced immediately. Optimism is dangerous here.
Key question:
- If nothing changes, how long do we have?
3. The Bankers / Lenders
Purpose: Build credibility before credibility is tested.
Lenders hate surprises more than bad news. Early engagement signals control and professionalism.
This conversation buys trust, and often time.
Key question:
- What concerns you most right now?
4. The Executive Team (Collectively)
Purpose: Reset the tone and rules of engagement.
This is where the CEO establishes how decisions will be made, how performance will be measured, and how honesty will be rewarded.
Ambiguity here creates resistance later.
Key message:
- We will deal in facts, not narratives.
5. Each Executive (Individually)
Purpose: Assess capability, intent, and resilience.
Private conversations reveal far more than group meetings. Some leaders will lean in. Others will avoid responsibility.
Turnarounds expose leadership gaps quickly.
Key question:
- What are you most worried about, and why?
6. The Top 5–10 Customers
Purpose: Understand external reality.
Customers often see decline before boards do. They notice service slippage, quality issues, and internal confusion.
These conversations also reassure customers that leadership is engaged.
Key question:
- Why do you still do business with us?
7. Critical Suppliers / Partners
Purpose: Secure operational continuity.
Suppliers are an early warning system. Late payments, erratic ordering, and mixed messages damage confidence quickly.
Rebuilding trust here stabilises the operation.
Key question:
- What would make you uncomfortable continuing with us?
8. Key Operational Leaders
Purpose: Identify execution bottlenecks.
The truth about why things don’t work often sits one or two layers below the executive team.
These conversations surface friction, workarounds, and silent failure points.
Key question:
- What gets in the way of doing your job properly?
9. Employee Representatives / Informal Leaders
Purpose: Read the emotional temperature of the organisation.
Turnarounds fail when fear fills the vacuum left by silence. Listening early builds credibility, even when decisions are tough.
You don’t need consensus. You need trust.
Key question:
- What are people saying when leadership isn’t in the room?
10. Yourself
Purpose: Decide who you must be in this moment.
This is the hardest conversation, and the most important.
Turnaround leadership requires calm under pressure, clarity in uncertainty, and decisiveness without cruelty.
Key question:
- What am I avoiding, and why?
The Pattern Behind Successful Turnarounds
The most effective turnaround CEOs don’t rush to announce solutions. They sequence conversations to establish truth, trust, and tempo.
By the time strategy is articulated, the groundwork is already done.
The Bottom Line
Turnarounds are not saved by charisma or cleverness. They are saved by the right conversations, in the right order, with the right intent.
If you get the first 10 right, the next 90 days become manageable. If you don’t, no amount of planning will compensate.
Why Maxit Advisory?
For a consulting firm, a turnaround situation demands immediate attention to problems arising from the client’s customers, creditors, employees or competitors. From experience, Maxit Advisory recognizes the level of demands and understands the effort required to help a company through the crisis. Our depth of management enables us to address many problem areas simultaneously.
We specialise in directing management through all the stages involved in a workout environment. This presentation has been designed by Maxit Advisory for the express purpose of assisting our clients in quickly developing a basic understanding of the turnaround process and their role in it.
Don’t postpone acting. Get specialist professional help fast! Start off by contacting Maxit Advisory to assist in assessing the problem and identify the available options. And keep in mind: Business Rescue is an option, but all other options should be considered before entering this process. The early engagement of a Turnaround Specialist experienced in crafting solutions not only provide more options to control the process and protect shareholder value but also could lead to increased likelihood of a successful outcome!
Choosing the right Turnaround Advisor is key.
- Firstly, note that nothing surpasses experience and a good track record (‘the best predictor of future performance is past performance’) in your choice
- Secondly, engage an advisor that can not only take your company through a formal Business Rescue process, but someone that has successfully turned around many companies without the cover of legal protection
- Lastly, engage someone who has been in the ‘hot seat’ before – i.e., someone who has managed a significant business before (and carried responsibility for the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cashflow of the entity). Someone you can trust.
And then you can ‘short circuit’ the search process by contacting Maxit Advisory, a specialist Turnaround firm. Even faster, call Maxit’s Managing Partner, Paul Aucamp, and set up a meeting.
- Mobile number = +27 (0)82 570 4678
- Email address = paul@maxit.co.za
- Website = www.maxit.co.za