Shows / Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or Fail
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or Fail
Why do talented leaders fail in one role and thrive in the next? Jason Baumgarten has led hundreds of Board, CEO and c-suite transitions at Spencer Stuart. He covers CEO succession, how boards hire a CEO, and shares leadership research alongside candid opinions about leadership and governance. His guests include CEOs, Board Directors, Researchers, Authors and unique executives who share their own observations about leadership but also their own lessons and life stories. Jason covers everything…
Episodes
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailFounder, Investor, Activist, Emmy Winner: Dave Lu
Dave Lu built a career by walking away from the ladder everyone told him to climb, and it taught him more about leadership fit than any resume ever could. In…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Boards Screen Out the Wrong Kind of Risk
Does a leader's public failure actually tell you less than their quiet success? Here's a scenario I run into constantly in executive search: two final…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy 85 Percent of New CEOs Are First Timers, with Anand Eswaran
What actually makes a leader fit a job, when the written job spec says one thing and the company needs another? That is the question at the center of my…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailThe Hidden Science Of Leadership Potential (And Why Most Companies Get It Wrong)
Are you actually spotting leadership potential, or just rewarding polish and confidence? In this solo episode, I break down the most overused word in…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailHow Market Research Tricks Leaders into Making The Wrong Decisions
Jon Cohen spent decades calling elections before founding an AI company built to fix his own industry. I sat down with Jon Cohen, founder and CEO of…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailStop Hiring The Person Who Wins The Room
A candidate lights up the room in the debrief, and a year later the company is searching again. Here's why. I open this episode with a scene that will feel…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhat Wildfires Can Teach Executives About Leadership
Why does experience in one crisis so often fail a leader in the next one? I open this episode with the story of the 1949 Mann Gulch wildfire, where foreman…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhat AI Is Doing To Leadership with Liat Ben-Zur
A leader who looks safe on paper might be the riskiest hire you make in the AI era. That's the paradox at the center of this conversation. I sit down with Liat…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailNo One Works Here: What AI Actually Changes About Work
MIT built a job title from scratch because Paul Cheek didn't fit any that existed. Now he's ranking the S&P 500 on AI maturity, and the results may surprise…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Nobody Tells the CEO the Truth
Seventy-three seconds after launch, the warning that could have stopped the Challenger disaster had already been softened beyond recognition. In this solo…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailHe Left Silicon Valley to Run a Retreat in the Andes
He traded Silicon Valley for the Andes and built a life around a completely different definition of leadership. In this episode, I talk with Terry Cumes, CEO…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Six Months Can Turn You Into a Better CEO Candidate
Boards rarely hire the most capable person. They hire the one who feels the safest to defend. In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten breaks down signaling…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Krishna Iyer Left Big Tech for a 170-Year-Old Railroad
He spent two decades at the frontier of tech. Then he chose a 177-year-old railroad instead. In this episode, I talk with Krishna Iyer, head of software…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailThe 100 Day Plan Is a Lie. Here's What Actually Works for new CEOs
A new CEO's hundred day plan sounds smart. The research says it's mostly fiction. In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten traces the hundred day myth back to…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailGroup Intelligence Beats Individual Genius with Lexy Franklin
Loneliness and bad fit can feel identical, but they are not the same thing at all. Lexy Franklin, founder of Sidebar and former Facebook product leader behind…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailDon't Cast a Halo: Why Great CEOs Get Blamed for Bad Luck
One stock price swing can turn the same leader from visionary genius to reckless failure overnight. In this solo episode, I break down the halo effect, the…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Your Best Salesperson Makes Your Worst Manager
Your best salesperson just got promoted to manager. Here's why that's often a mistake. In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten unpacks the Peter Principle, the…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy Busy Leaders Still Don't Control Their Own Calendar
If time is your most valuable asset, who's actually deciding how yours gets spent? In this solo episode, I unpack a paradox I see constantly in the leaders I…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailWhy the Obvious CEO Hire Is So Often the Wrong One
What if the same leader, running the same playbook, could fail in one place and win big in another? That's the question at the heart of my conversation with…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailBeyond Employee Engagement: How Mattering Transforms Leadership and Executive Search
What if the thing quietly undermining your team's performance isn't strategy, compensation, or culture decks, but whether people feel like they matter?…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailThe Boardroom Is Broken: How AI Changes Executive Leadership Forever
The boardroom is the last line of defense for AI governance — and most directors aren't ready. Steven Wolfe Pereira has spent 30 years at the intersection of…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailYour Schedule Is Your Job — How AI Affects Job Fit
What if the job you have today quietly becomes the job you never agreed to take? In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten breaks down one of the most…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailThe Spikiness Principle: What Executive Search Gets Wrong About Talent and Fit
The investors closest to the best founders have a front-row seat to what great fit really looks like. In this episode of Fit Happens, I sit down with Laela…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailIs Your Job Worth It? The Hidden Cost of Being in the Wrong Role Too Long
You have roughly 4,000 weeks. Are you spending them on work that actually deserves them? In this solo episode, Jason Baumgarten — senior partner and executive…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailFrom Google to the Grill: Dan Gertsacov on Career Fit and Leading Big Green Egg
Dan Gertsacov, CEO of Big Green Egg, has built a career by saying no to money and yes to fit — four times over. In this episode, we dig into his non-linear…
- Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or Fail
CEO Burnout Is Destroying Your Judgment — Here's How to Stop It
Most executives aren't failing loudly — they're quietly eroding from the inside out. Nearly a quarter of CEOs report feeling burned out daily. But burnout…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailHow Scott Pulsipher Found His Fit as CEO of a 200,000-Student University
What does it really take to find the role you were built for — and lead it at scale? In this episode of Fit Happens, I sit down with Scott Pulsipher, CEO of…
- Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or Fail
The One Sentence Every Executive Should Write Before Day One
Most executives fail not because they lack talent — but because they're solving the wrong problem. In this solo episode of Fit Happens, I'm breaking down the…
Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or FailCareer Fit Beyond VC: Kara Nortman's Path to Women's Sports Leadership
She left a dream job at peak success — because she finally discovered what true alignment feels like. In this episode of Fit Happens, Jason Baumgarten sits…
- Fit Happens: Why CEOs and Leaders Succeed or Fail
What Is Fit? The Science of Finding Your Place in the Workplace
Most people are winging one of the most important decisions of their lives. What's the difference between someone who springs out of bed Monday morning and…