Leadership Imperatives for CEOs with Bold Growth Targets

Every CEO wants growth. But those with bold targets quickly discover that growth isn’t achieved by setting bigger numbers or sharper strategy decks. It comes from leadership — how you align, who you hire, and the way you personally engage with execution.

This year’s Fortune Future 50 (in partnership with BCG) offers compelling evidence. The companies making the biggest moves on the list aren’t winning by chance. They share three leadership imperatives in common.  These are behaviors and actions that set the tone for how growth is built and sustained.

If you’re aiming to scale faster, smarter, and with staying power, let these imperatives guide your next chapter.

The Three Practices Shared by the Future 50

According to Fortune / BCG (2025), the fastest growing companies in the Future 50 share three defining practices:

1. They clearly articulate their growth ambition.
   Not just to the board, but to investors, partners, and employees. The destination is clear, and everyone knows what “winning” looks like.
2. They hire proven business builders.
   Leaders who have scaled companies before and understand the gritty, practical steps to move from aspiration to execution. These aren’t just visionaries; they’re operators who know how to build.
3. They cultivate executive engagement in execution.
   The C-suite doesn’t sit above the fray issuing directives. Instead, executives coach, empower, and challenge their teams. Growth isn’t ordered; it’s modeled, reinforced, and owned at every level.

Why These Practices Matter

• Clarity of ambition aligns the entire organization around the same horizon. It provides an easy way for line leaders and employees to make trade off decisions with their time.
• Proven builders bring the execution muscle to turn strategy into reality. They guide, coach and roll up their sleeves and do.
• Executive engagement keeps the growth engine from stalling — leaders stay close enough to coach and course-correct in real time. Available, present and in tune with the day-to-day.

Together, they create a cycle of clarity → competence → accountability.

What CEOs Can Do Now

If you want to embed these practices into your company, here are your next moves:

1. Define and communicate your North Star.
   What is the growth outcome you are aiming for in 3–5 years? Be specific.  Make sure everyone can see it, understand it and play it back to you.
2. Audit your leadership bench.
   Do you have proven builders in critical roles? If not, prioritize hiring or augmenting staff with leaders who have successfully scaled before.
3. Model engaged leadership.
   Replace top-down directives with real coaching and empowerment. Be visible in execution, not just strategy.

Final Thought

Want to be among the next generation of companies in the Future 50? Start here: set a crystal-clear ambition, bring in leaders who know how to build, and stay personally engaged in execution.

These are not abstract growth tactics — they are leadership imperatives. They define how CEOs and their C-suites must show up if they want to scale boldly and sustainably.

As CEO, your biggest lever is how you lead: the clarity you set, the people you empower, and the engagement you model. Growth isn’t commanded from the top — it’s led through clarity, built by proven operators, and reinforced by leaders who engage at every level.

Paige Boyd is an executive coach and HR Advisor based in Nashville, TN.  She partners with Founders and C-suite leaders to solve complex business problems and align talent for periods of growth and change.  You can reach her here.