Services

Interim executive leadership

Sometimes the company does not need advice. It needs someone in the seat on Monday, carrying the profit-and-loss, making the decisions a departing executive left behind.

3,600
largest organisation led
6
countries operated in, not advised on
4
languages worked in fluently

What this is

An interim executive is not a caretaker. The reason companies bring one in is that something has to change while the permanent answer is being found, and a caretaker will not change it. I take the seat with the same authority and the same accountability as the person who will eventually hold it.

I have run country operations of 250 and 820 people as Country Manager, and a 3,600-person subsidiary as Chief Executive Officer. I work in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, which in Latin America and Europe is the difference between managing a team and talking to it through someone else.

What you get

  • The seat covered from week one, with decisions taken rather than deferred
  • Full profit-and-loss responsibility, reported the way headquarters needs it
  • The team held together through the transition, and told the truth about it
  • A clean handover pack for the permanent executive, including what I would do next
  • An honest read on the organisation that an internal candidate cannot give you

How it runs

01

Take the seat

Week one: the P&L, the cash, the top twenty people, the top ten customers, and whatever is on fire. No listening tour that lasts a quarter.

02

Decide

The decisions the outgoing executive could not or would not take. Taken, communicated, and owned — including the unpopular ones.

03

Hand over

A permanent executive who starts with a working operation and a written account of what was done and why, not an archaeology project.

The record behind it

At Ezentis Brasil I was brought in as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer with a three-month mandate: sell the subsidiary or shut it down. At Woden Group I held the country profit-and-loss twice, in Colombia and then in Peru, both as turnarounds. At Whirlpool's Embraco unit in Europe I led the Italian restructuring, which meant sitting across the table from the unions and government agencies to negotiate social absorbers — not writing a memo about it.

Questions about this work

How quickly can you start?

Weeks rather than months, and for a genuine crisis, days. An interim seat only works if it is filled before the gap does damage, so I keep the start date short and the first week structured.

Are you available for a permanent role as well?

Yes. The practice covers projects, fractional roles and interim seats, and a full-time Country Manager, General Manager or Chief Financial Officer seat is open for the right company. Every engagement form starts with the same conversation.

How do you handle a team that knows you are temporary?

By telling them the truth on day one: how long I expect to be there, what I am there to do, and what happens to them. Teams do not resent an interim executive; they resent not knowing. The decisions get easier once nobody is guessing.

Start a conversation

A 30-minute call, in English, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. No deck, no pitch — you describe the situation and I tell you whether I am the right person for it.