Executives have the prerogative to switch out senior leaders, but they need to exercise caution. Otherwise, they and the entire organization will experience “leadership churn.” That’s basically turnover on steroids, creating disruptions and causing dominoes to fall across the entire organization. 

The domino effects of churn are many: confusion about the current strategic direction, lost productivity due to mix-ups and rework, loss of trust, talent drains, and the increased costs of replacing talent at all levels.

To avoid these problems or alleviate them once they start, leaders need to:

1) adopt and implement a customized integration plan for new leaders, especially those joining from the outside

2) apply the concepts of optimal distinctiveness, as explained in the article

3) monitor and adjust as necessary.

For more on this topic, please read this Forbes Coaches Council article, “Experiencing leadership churn? Here are 3 ways to manage it,” published online on July 17, 2026.

And if you’re not that familiar with optimal distinctiveness from 1991, the article describes how it works and why it’s so relevant in 2026.