Ryan Pritchard · RPC
The most expensive transition mistakeis not the wrong leader.
It is the right leader running the wrong operating system. Every new senior appointment inherits a calendar, a team and a set of commitments shaped by the previous regime. Until those are consciously audited, the organisation keeps running the old playbook — and the new leader is blamed for the failure.
18 years' experience · ICF European Masters Coach · Working with CEOs, C-suite and HR / L&D directors across the UK and Europe
~40%
of senior hires are judged a failure inside 18 months
10×
salary — the estimated cost of a failed executive appointment
3
invisible inheritances that quietly shape the first year
1
structured audit to reset the operating system
The problem
Three invisible inheritances every new leader pays
01
The inherited calendar
Meetings, rhythms and commitments shaped by the previous leader's priorities. The new leader's time is not yet their own, so strategy becomes whatever the diary allows.
02
The inherited team
A team profiled to complement the predecessor's strengths, not the organisation's next chapter. Difficult people decisions are delayed until they become expensive.
03
The inherited commitments
Sacred projects, relationships and promises that were important to the old regime but may undermine the new one. Killing them feels politically impossible.
The methodology
The Inheritance Audit: three disciplines, one reset
Calendar archaeology
Discover what the diary is actually optimising for.
- Audit recurring meetings against the real mandate
- Map where time is spent versus where strategic value is created
- Identify legacy commitments that no longer earn their place
- Design a weekly operating rhythm that protects thinking space
Team inheritance
Rebuild the team for the next phase, not the last one.
- Assess capability, alignment and potential against the new agenda
- Name the roles that need to change, and the conversations that keep being avoided
- Rebuild the top team as a decision-making unit
- Create a plan for succession, development and exits
Sacred cow review
Decide what stays, what goes, and what gets reframed.
- List the projects, relationships and metrics inherited from the previous regime
- Test each against the new strategy and the board's real expectations
- Build the political case to retire or renegotiate the costly ones
- Communicate the reset with clarity and without blame
Case study
When the audit turned a failing appointment around
Context
A newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer joined a B2B services firm after a successful turnaround elsewhere. Within six months, internal friction was rising, the board was asking questions, and the leader's confidence was fading.
Audit
The inheritance audit revealed the calendar was still shaped by the old growth-at-all-costs strategy, the team had been built to defend the previous regime, and several commitments were quietly undermining the new priorities.
Outcome
The leader reset the operating rhythm, restructured the customer-facing team, and retired two legacy commitments. Margin pressure eased and the board restored confidence by month nine.
What changes
What it feels like when the operating system is reset
The new leader's time is redirected to the priorities that matter
People decisions are made early, while they are still relatively cheap
Legacy commitments are retired or reframed before they become crises
The board sees clear evidence of a deliberate transition, not drift
The organisation feels the shift within weeks, not quarters
A higher return on the investment the organisation has already made in the hire
About Ryan
Eighteen years of seeing the transition before the transition is blamed.
- ICF European Coach
- Henley Business School
- NLP Master Practitioner
I'm Ryan Pritchard, founder of RPC. I have worked with CEOs, C-suite executives and leadership teams through appointments, promotions, integrations and turnarounds. The Inherited Executive Tax is the pattern I have seen most often and heard discussed least: good leaders struggling inside a system that was not designed for them.
This audit is designed to change that. It is practical, confidential, and built around the leader, the team and the organisation they are now responsible for — not the one they have inherited.
Let's talk
If a senior appointment is at risk, the audit is the fastest way to find out
Tell me the context of the appointment or the transition that feels stuck. I will reply personally, usually within one working day, and we can decide whether an inheritance audit makes sense.
Direct
Everything shared is treated as confidential, whether or not we go on to work together.