Ending Silo Mentality: A CEO’s Guide to Enterprise-First Leadership

When the CEO asks, “Are we aligned?” at the end of a leadership meeting, everyone typically nods their heads in agreement. But too often, the actions taken by team leaders afterward don’t match the direction that was previously agreed upon. One main reason C-suite leaders don’t all row in the same direction is that they often prioritize their own business units over the broader company goals.  

“The best CEOs spend a lot of time getting the team to work well together,” said Carolyn Dewar, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and co-author of CEO Excellence (Scribner, 2022). “If they’re not working well together, the disruption on a companywide level is remarkable.”

Dewar emphasizes that CEOs should cultivate leaders whose primary allegiance is to the enterprise, not just their own function. She said CEOs need to make clear that leaders should “not be coming to the meeting representing their function or their business unit. They should operate as a team that is solving problems for the enterprise.” 

How can CEOs get team leaders to deprioritize their fiefdoms and get behind the bigger picture for the good of the entire company? These five action steps can help:

1. Explain the Upside

Dewar stressed that CEOs must clearly show the benefits of companywide initiatives. Senior executives who are resistant to seeing the big picture can shift once they understand what’s in it for them.

“Department leaders need to see the upsides of collectively completing tasks,” she said. “It’s up to the CEO to explain the larger strategy and emphasize who will benefit. That likely means aligning viewpoints, creating a shared vision, and explaining not just what’s in it for customers or shareholders but also for the team leader.”

Above all, the CEO must make the vision tangible. 

“Do so by using strategy sessions [and] one-on-one conversations, and start a written draft of the project,” Dewar added. “As the CEO, you write the first paragraph of that draft and have your executives fill in the rest. That will help fulfill your ‘shared vision’ goal and get everyone on the same page.” 

2. Demand Enterprise Alignment 

When executives are indifferent or resistant mission, CEOs must remind them to make room for companywide priorities. 

“At our company, we emphasize that no single department operates in isolation,” said Jubee Vilceus, CEO of Yellow Tail Tech, a technology training company based in Silver Spring, Md. “Whether it’s marketing, operations, or student success, each team contributes to a shared mission. When leaders embrace this mindset and prioritize what’s best for the company, it fosters collaboration, innovation, and better decision-making.”

3. Promote Honest Conversations

Vilceus emphasized the importance of leading by example.

“We prioritize demonstrating how collaboration and alignment lead to success,” he said. “As CEO, it’s my responsibility to ensure that every leader on our team knows how their work contributes to our higher purpose and goals.”

One way Yellow Tail does this is by encouraging honest conversations among all executives. “We have regular leadership meetings where we discuss companywide goals and encourage leaders to share ideas and challenges across departments,” Vilceus said. “This allows everyone to realize how their work contributes to a big project’s performance.”

4. Keep Employees in the Loop 

CEOs build executive support for big projects by taking the necessary steps to keep rank-and-file employees informed. It’s also essential to monitor how organizational goals impact employees, specifically their well-being and sense of belonging.

“Without a view into the experiences of contributors in other departments, leaders may miss red flags that signal impending dissatisfaction, burnout, or deteriorating mental health, something that is becoming increasingly problematic for employers,” said Rae Shanahan, chief strategy officer at Businessolver, a Denver-based employee benefits services firm.

Including team members in decision-making also builds an enterprise-first framework that keeps inward-looking executives in check.

“Diversity in perspectives is critical for developing and maintaining a growth mindset,” Shanahan noted. “Without fresh perspectives, feedback, and data, you’re getting stuck in complacency mode. If leaders are hyper-focused on their team’s isolated goals, they risk building silos, limiting cross-functional communication, and creating inefficiencies.”

The best leaders understand that real progress starts by building a team with a shared focus on organizational success. “Adopting this enterprise-first mindset helps drive the entire organization, not just a team, towards two common goals — success and growth,” she added.

5.  Confront Stubborn Siloes with Clarity, Empathy 

If team leaders stay stuck in their departmental siloes despite your encouragement, those gentle nudges won’t be enough. Serious action may be required.

When addressing a department head who isn’t aligned with the company’s interests, the conversation should be rooted in clarity, empathy, and accountability, said Matthew Doherty, North America CEO at EXTE, a global ad tech platform company.

“It’s important to start by understanding their perspective. What challenges are they facing, and why are they approaching things the way they are?” he said. “Creating a space where they feel heard allows the CEO to uncover whether their actions stem from misunderstanding, misalignment, or something deeper.”

From there, refocus the discussion on the company’s vision and goals. 

“Reinforce that every leader’s role is to drive collective success, not just the success of their own team,” Doherty advised. “Share specific examples of where their actions may have deviated from this shared mission and collaboratively explore how to realign their priorities with the broader objectives.”

If a team leader doesn’t adapt after those conversations and continues to prioritize their own agenda over the company’s vision, the issue then becomes a question of fit.

“Leaders are responsible for driving their department’s success and contributing to a cohesive, collaborative environment that moves the entire organization forward,” Doherty said. At that point, the CEO must have a candid, results-oriented conversation.

“It’s important to outline the behaviors or decisions holding the company back and explain the nonnegotiables for leadership alignment,” he added. “Sometimes, it’s not just a matter of capability but a fundamental misalignment in mindset or priorities.”

 Brian O’Connell is a freelance writer based in Bucks County, Pa. A former Wall Street trader, he is the author of the books CNBC Creating Wealth (John Wiley & Sons, 2001) and The Career Survival Guide (McGraw Hill, 2004).