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The Second CEO: Balancing Legacy, Leadership, and Growth
by Eric Walczykowski, Ryan Tognazzini, ETJ Life
In our latest episode of Tailored Talent, I sat down with Ryan Tognazzini, Partner at ETJ Life, to discuss one of the most complex inflection points in private equity leadership: following a founder as CEO. It’s a transition that requires humility, balance, and clarity. Together, Ryan and I explored what it takes to lead authentically, earn trust, and sustain both business performance and personal well-being during this critical stage of company evolution.
This discussion continues Bespoke’s Leadership Readiness Series, following the recent piece “CEO Succession: Leadership Readiness for the Next Phase,” which examines the challenges and dynamics of evaluating sitting CEOs versus first-timers.
Honoring the Founder While Defining Your Own Path
Stepping into a founder-led organization is one of the most delicate transitions a CEO can face. At ETJ Life, Ryan and his partners have developed what they call the Second CEO Operating System, focused on four fundamentals: culture, strategy, team, and execution.
The first question any incoming CEO must ask is straightforward: What is the founder’s role going forward? Whether the founder remains active or steps away completely, clarity on that dynamic defines the tone of the transition.
Founders often embody the company’s culture and identity, making it essential for the next CEO to honor that legacy while shaping a new chapter. As Ryan shared, the goal isn’t to mimic the founder; it’s to lead with self-awareness. Tools like the Hogan Assessment can help leaders understand their emotional intelligence, leadership style, and natural strengths, creating a foundation for authentic leadership.
As Ryan put it,
“You don’t have to be the founder to be effective. The key is knowing yourself, honoring what worked, and amplifying your own strengths to move the business forward.”
Culture: Empowering Beyond the Founder
In many founder-led companies, the organization is structured to orbit around the founder’s decision-making. I’ve seen this repeatedly—cultures where the founder’s dynamic leadership solves every problem but unintentionally limits others from taking ownership.
Ryan shared a vivid example: at one company, employees asked permission to buy a $20 gift card to recognize a colleague’s success because the founder personally approved every little expense. It’s a reminder that the successor’s role often begins with empowerment, decentralizing control, and building a culture of trust, accountability, and decision-making.
As I’ve observed across numerous transitions, empowering others to act is the first signal that leadership has evolved from one person’s vision to a collective capability.
Rebuilding and Empowering the Executive Team
Few aspects of the second CEO transition are as visible or as difficult as reshaping the leadership team. In most cases, half to two-thirds of the executive team changes within the first twelve months.
Ryan’s perspective resonated deeply with my own experience: “What got you here won’t necessarily get you there.” The key is assessing talent early, defining success through clear scorecards, and acting decisively once you know what’s needed.
I’ve also seen how easily the pendulum can swing too far. Moving too fast risks eroding trust, while moving too slowly delays momentum. As Ryan said,
“I’ve never heard anybody say, ‘I moved too quickly.’ More often, CEOs wish they had acted faster.”
Balancing empathy and urgency is the art of this process. In many founder transitions I’ve been part of, guiding the founder to reach the same conclusion about a needed change has often been the most effective way to preserve alignment and trust.
Building the Plane While Flying It
When you take over for a founder, you’re often building the plane while flying it. You inherit an operating cadence while simultaneously redefining direction.
As Ryan pointed out, in a company with a private equity sponsor, early reassessment of the value creation plan is critical. By the first or second board meeting, a new CEO should be ready to articulate what’s working, what isn’t, and the top three priorities moving forward.
I’ve found that organizational uncertainty spreads quickly when leadership shifts. Clear, consistent communication—especially to employees who aren’t in the boardroom—is the antidote. Explaining what you’re doing, why it matters, and how you’ll do it builds stability and confidence in times of change.
In these moments, clarity of plan and purpose becomes a new CEO’s greatest advantage.
High Joy, High Impact
ETJ Life’s mission captures something we both believe deeply: that high performance and personal well-being aren’t opposing goals. They’re interconnected.
Ryan and his team built ETJ Life to serve two types of leaders:
- Navigators, active CEOs striving to perform at their best while maintaining balance across family, health, and personal growth.
- Sages, CEOs who have stepped away from daily operations and are defining the next phase of their professional and personal lives.
Each participant works with a coach weekly or biweekly and joins a monthly peer community that discusses real-time topics like raising capital, selecting partners, or integrating AI into business operations. What sets this model apart is its safe, sponsor-free environment, where CEOs can speak candidly and learn from peers without the weight of governance oversight.
ETJ Life’s founding principle, “High joy, high impact,” is a simple but powerful reminder that leadership at the highest level should create both results and fulfillment.
The founder-to-CEO transition demands more than operational excellence.
It requires emotional intelligence, empathy, and the courage to lead differently. For private equity-backed CEOs navigating this path, finding the right support system can make all the difference between surviving and thriving.
Winning Results
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