We assessed, coached and executed the rotation of dozens of senior executives in support of a successful multi-year transition in the product portfolio, asset mix, and business model.
Client Profile
A North American manufacturer of forest products with $5B+ revenue
Challenge
Long-dominant in the pulp and paper industry, this client faced an existential crisis. Roughly 80% of its revenue came from traditional paper products, a market that had been in steady decline for over a decade due to digital transformation and shifting consumer behavior.
To survive and thrive, the company needed to preserve profitability in a shrinking core business while simultaneously building new growth engines in areas like hygiene, pulp, and biomaterials. However, nearly all of the company’s senior leaders had been developed within the traditional business model. They knew how to run the legacy operation—but had no experience launching and scaling new ventures.
The leadership team needed to transform itself before it could transform the business.
Insight
This wasn't just a portfolio problem—it was a talent and leadership problem.
The company had ambitious strategic goals, but lacked the organizational capability to execute them. Leaders needed to think differently, operate across silos, and take on unfamiliar challenges. But the current talent architecture—who was in what role, how they were selected, and how they were supported—was stuck in the past.
ExecLead recognized that strategy without leadership mobility would fail. The company needed new leadership behaviors, new ways of working across its portfolio, and the courage to move beyond what had once made it successful.
Solution
Over a multi-year partnership, we designed and delivered an integrated leadership transformation across the enterprise.
Our work included:
Assessment: We assessed the capabilities of existing leaders and identified gaps against the company’s future-state needs.
Targeted selection: We helped select external talent with deep experience in scaling growth businesses—people who could bring fresh thinking and challenge old assumptions.
Talent rotation: We rotated proven leaders from the legacy business into emerging areas to accelerate learning, collaboration, and shared accountability across the portfolio.
Executive coaching and team development: We provided targeted support to help leaders step into ambiguity, take calculated risks, and lead across traditional boundaries.
The result was a more agile, future-ready leadership team—one capable of navigating a complex transition without losing control of the legacy business.
Impact
Despite ongoing declines in the traditional paper market, the company:
Grew new lines of business, including its pulp and personal care divisions
Sold a high-performing business unit at a premium, signaling strong market confidence
Was acquired by a leading global firm—a deal that delivered a significant return for shareholders and secured the company’s long-term relevance
Most importantly, the leadership team proved it could adapt. It turned a period of market decline into an opportunity to reposition the business—and increase its enterprise value.
This case shows what’s possible when leadership evolves in lockstep with strategy. Transformation isn’t just about where you’re going. It’s also about who’s leading the way.