Failed Senior Executive Hires Can Cost Businesses Up to $15m, New Leadership Book Warns

Your First 60 Days - The Missing Piece in Your Onboarding: A Systemic Approach for Senior Leaders by Tess Cope is published on Thursday 3rd September 2026

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- When a newly appointed senior executive fails, the cost to a business can run into millions of dollars, with research putting the potential impact as high as $15 million.

That is the corporate finding explored in Your First 60 Days – the third book from global systemic leadership coach and facilitator, Tess Cope, who has more than 25 years of global experience in cultural transformation and leadership development.

Research cited by Tess shows the scale of the issue. A University of South Carolina Center for Executive Succession study found that 45 percent of around 150 CHROs estimated the direct cost of a failed external executive hire at between $2 million and $5 million, while a further 15 percent put it at between $5 million and $10 million. Separate research highlighted by Mercuri Urval has put the wider cost of a failed leadership appointment even higher

In the book, Tess explores how when senior leaders use their first 60 days to understand the organisation including its history, people, and invisible ‘furniture’, they place themselves in a stronger position to guide their team to success.

Your First 60 Days is written with senior leaders who want to succeed in mind. It will guide them through the crucial elements of their onboarding - understanding the organisation they are joining from the human, the relational and the systemic viewpoint.

It also allows them to implement the changes they want, integrate themselves into the ‘inner sanctum’ of leadership, and build the reputation they want within their industry.

Author Tess Cope says, “Your First 60 Days shines a light on a huge corporate problem. When up to 50 percent of new executives fail to meet expectations in their first eighteen months, it’s clear they need to rethink their approach to their role. Acknowledgement of the past is key to a bright future, both for the company and for their own leadership brand. Rather than approaching things like a bull in a china shop, leaders need to take stock of the past and the role they have inherited, and if they ignore this, it comes at a high cost.”

The chapters within the book explore how many senior leaders unexpectedly suffer ‘organ rejection’ from their company, at great personal cost. Those who take a systemic approach to their role are more likely to be successful.

It also explores the headline corporate cost to the organisation, which can reach $15 million when the wider impact of a failed leadership appointment on productivity, engagement, reputation and commercial opportunity is taken into account.

Tess Cope’s mission is to help leaders improve the working lives of 100,000 employees every year by helping them look beyond the immediate dynamics, unearth the root cause, and move the whole team and wider organisation towards a vibrant, energising and great place to work. Her global experience in leading teams to exceptional performance has been underscored by her clients’ success.

Your First 60 Days sets out a systemic approach to executive onboarding, helping new senior leaders understand the organisation they have inherited before attempting to transform it.

For more information or interviews with Tess Cope contact Nicola Rowley on 07932 656685 or email: nicola@njrpr.com
-ENDS-

Nicola Rowley
NJRPR Limited
+ +44 7932 656685
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