Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy

Many senior leaders hire an executive coach because it feels like the right next step. But most get very little value from it because they treat coaching like therapy or like consulting. Lucas and Luna break down the three traps that cause executives to waste thousands on coaches — the Vent Trap, the Validation Trap, and the Delegation Trap — and explain the one pattern that actually moves the nee...

Executive recruiter Claire Naylor reveals why sitting on a board is the single most overlooked career lever for senior leaders stuck in a VP or C-suite plateau. Lucas and Luna break down her data showing that executives with just one outside board seat receive 40% more inbound recruiter calls within 18 months — not because of the title, but because of the strategic perspective it forces. The hosts...

In Episode 80 of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine how senior leaders leverage strategic sabbaticals not as a pause, but as a career accelerator. They analyze the case of a Fortune 100 CFO who took a three-month sabbatical to study AI applications in finance, returning to lead a digital transformation. The hosts break down the key components of a strategic sabbatical: clear ob...

When a senior leader makes a visible mistake — a failed product launch, a team that missed its numbers, a botched reorg — the conventional advice is to apologize, learn, and move on. But that's not how C-suite careers actually work. In this episode of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dig into the art of the strategic career narrative: how to reframe a setback not as a failure to be f...

Episode 78 of Executive Careers with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna explore the concept of a 'career resilience reserve'—a proactive strategy senior leaders use to weather unexpected job changes, organizational restructuring, or reputational hits. They break down the three pillars: financial buffer (12-18 months of expenses), relationship capital (a curated network of 10-15 advocates), and skill diversif...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the strategic use of internal transfers for senior leaders aiming for upward mobility, not just lateral shifts. They dissect a real case: a VP of Product at a Fortune 500 tech firm who turned a potential dead-end role into a promotion by leveraging cross-functional visibility and sponsorship. The hosts discuss concrete tactics like the 'six-month check-in' a...

Episode 76 of Executive Careers with Fexingo explores the concept of a 'career contract'—a written agreement between a senior leader and their new organization that goes beyond the employment offer letter. Lucas and Luna discuss how a seasoned CMO used a one-page career contract to align on strategic autonomy, board access, and exit protections before accepting a role at a mid-cap tech firm. They...

In this episode of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore why many senior leaders skip external job searches in favor of internal transfers — and how to execute one without getting stuck in a lateral role. They unpack a 2024 study from Gartner showing that internal candidates who apply for a role outside their function are 47% more likely to get the job than external hires with com...

In this episode of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how senior leaders are using sabbaticals not as a sign of burnout but as a deliberate career strategy. They examine the case of a Fortune 500 CFO who took a three-month sabbatical to study artificial intelligence at MIT, then returned to lead a major digital transformation. Lucas shares data from a 2025 survey by the Executi...

In Episode 73 of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the art of negotiating non-compete clauses for senior leaders. They explore a real-world case: a former Goldman Sachs partner who successfully reduced a non-compete from 18 months to 6 months by leveraging industry specialization and clear geographic limits. The hosts break down the key leverage points senior executives have...

Lucas and Luna explore the art of strategic refusal for senior leaders — why every high-stakes 'no' is actually a reputation decision. Using the case of former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo, who declined a COO role under Bob Iger in 2015, they unpack how seasoned executives turn down promotions, board seats, or partnerships without damaging relationships. The episode covers three concrete tactics: the 'ye...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down a career tactic most senior leaders get wrong: the pre-interview briefing. They walk through a real case study of a Fortune 500 CMO candidate who landed the role not by winging it, but by sending a carefully structured pre-read document 48 hours before the first conversation. The hosts explain the three sections every briefing should include — your strate...

Episode 70 of Executive Careers with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna unpack the strategic side of exit interviews for senior leaders — not just a formality, but a final negotiation. Lucas shares concrete examples: a CFO who used her exit interview to protect her deferred compensation by framing her feedback around board governance, and a COO who turned a tense exit into a paid consulting contract worth $1...

In this episode of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore why senior leaders increasingly turn to peer coaching groups—small, confidential circles of fellow executives—rather than traditional executive coaches or mentors. They break down the specific structure that makes these groups effective: 6 to 8 members, no direct reports, meeting monthly for a full day, with a trained facili...

Episode 68 of Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy. Lucas and Luna explore how senior leaders proactively assemble a personal board of directors—a small group of trusted advisors who provide counsel, accountability, and introductions long before a crisis or job search. They walk through a real example: a former Fortune 500 CFO who built a board of five...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how senior executives use board seats not just as a capstone achievement, but as a strategic tool to accelerate their primary career. They examine the case of a Fortune 500 CFO who landed a board role at a mid-cap tech firm and saw her executive search calls triple within six months. The hosts break down why board service signals readiness for bigger roles,...

In this episode of Executive Careers with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how senior executives develop and adapt their boardroom communication style. Drawing on a specific case from a former Fortune 500 CFO who struggled to gain traction with his new board, they examine the difference between operational and strategic messaging. Lucas breaks down the three-part framework—context, data, ask—that t...

Lucas and Luna explore the difference between a mentor and a sponsor for senior leaders. They unpack a 2024 Harvard Business Review study showing that executives with sponsors are 23% more likely to get a promotion than those with only mentors. Lucas shares a case study of a Fortune 500 CFO who credits her sponsor—not her mentor—for her rise. Luna pushes back on whether sponsors can be cultivated...

Most senior leaders bomb their first quarter in a new role because they confuse activity with strategy. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the specific planning framework a former Fortune 50 division head used to map her first 90 days in a turnaround — starting with a five-week listening tour, then a three-week synthesis memo, then a six-week quick-win execution phase. They talk about why...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how senior leaders flip the script on reference checks—using them not as a passive bureaucratic hurdle but as a deliberate tool to reinforce their narrative, validate fit, and even uncover red flags about a prospective employer. They discuss specific tactics: how to choose which former bosses or board members to offer up, how to brief them without sounding c...

Lucas and Luna discuss the art of executive LinkedIn presence in 2026. They explore why senior leaders often overthink the platform and how a targeted, low-frequency posting strategy can build credibility without coming across as desperate. The episode centers on a specific case: a Fortune 500 COO who increased her inbound recruiter outreach by 40 percent by shifting from thought-leadership essays...

Episode 61 of Executive Careers with Fexingo tackles a topic rarely discussed in senior leadership circles: rebuilding professional trust after a significant career misstep. Lucas and Luna explore the anatomy of a misstep—from a failed product launch to a public communications blunder—and lay out a concrete framework for recovery. They dissect the case of a former Fortune 500 COO who, after a regu...

Episode 60 of Executive Careers with Fexingo tackles a taboo topic among senior leaders: career regret. Lucas and Luna explore how high-performing executives deal with the emotional and strategic fallout from a decision that did not pan out — a promotion that isolated them, an acquisition that fizzled, a pivot that felt wrong six months in. Rather than treating regret as failure, they examine how...

Episode 59 of Executive Careers with Fexingo digs into the mechanics of late-career pivots for senior leaders. Lucas and Luna examine the case of a former Fortune 500 CFO who moved into a COO role at a mid-cap growth company at age 58. They break down the three specific things she did to signal adaptability without seeming desperate: how she reframed her narrative, how she targeted a specific pain...

Episode 58 of Executive Careers with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna discuss a challenge every senior leader faces: disentangling personal identity from professional role. They use the case of a Fortune 500 CFO who, after a sudden departure, realized she had no answer to 'Who are you outside work?' The hosts explore practical strategies like the 'two-column exercise'—listing what your job gives you versus...