The first stage, Proof of Performance, can range from less than a year in duration to an upper range of two years, depending on the results being achieved. Although the Launch stage for public company CEOs is intense, private equity partners, CEOs of PE portfolio companies who have also been public company CEOs, and directors who’ve worked with both the public and PE models unanimously agreed that the expectation for fast results was even greater for the PE CEO. Instead of being afforded a honeymoon or the exploratory period of a listening tour, a PE CEO is expected to immediately begin implementing the elements of the detailed investment thesis.

PE firms act quickly if early targets are missed. Indeed, research has found that one-third of PE CEOs are forced out within the first one hundred days of PE ownership.

Opinion about the high-engagement PE model is not universally positive. Some criticize the intense involvement of PE firms for turning the CEO into more of a “COO plus.” In this view, PE firms are primarily interested in hiring executives great at execution, who will put strong emphasis on operational improvements. They aren’t looking for input— or not much— into the strategy for growth, and they curtail CEO power.

In all cases, an essential truth is that the CEO is still the one primarily in charge of running the company. The PE firm provides an idealized model of the transformation process, and the CEO brings the wisdom of experience in how to actually manage the messier, human process of execution.

Improving the performance of companies that are performing fairly well is now the predominant objective, and PE firms have learned that a CEO’s people leadership abilities are the vital complement to strength in finance and operations for this new frontier of performance improvement.