Shannon Levy, the new CEO of Highstreet Properties, stared out the window of the company’s London headquarters, wondering whether she should call Justin Mooney and fire him. A once-thriving developer of retail malls, Highstreet had been battered by consumers’ shift to e-commerce, Covid-19 mall closures, and internal discord over strategy. Shannon had been brought in to turn the business around. She was fast approaching her 100-day mark and already feeling behind on selecting, aligning, and motivating her senior leadership team.

A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.