Bobola Adeoye | Leadership insights

The Leadership Leaderboard · May 2026 Walking Into the Fire Heidi O’Neill: Named CEO and Already Under Attack Before She Has Even Started “I also saw firsthand the setbacks a business can face, and the integrity, heart and sheer will it takes to come back.” — Heidi O’Neill, CEO-elect, Lululemon, employee memo, 22 April 2026 Real Moves. Real Lessons. One Leader at a Time. 4 min read Heidi O’Neill was named Lululemon CEO on 22 April 2026. The stock fell 12% the same day. The founder publicly questioned her appointment. And she hasn’t even started yet. Here’s what her story tells us about leadership under fire.

The Leadership Leaderboard · May 2026 Greg Abel: How Do You Follow the Greatest Investor of All Time? Real Moves. Real Lessons. One Leader at a Time. 4 min read Warren Buffett ran Berkshire Hathaway for 60 years. Greg Abel took over in January 2026. His first quarterly results are in — and the question every investor is asking is whether the greatest succession in business history is actually working.

Apple dominated April. A succession announcement, a new CEO finding his feet, and a leader managing sustained pressure. Here are the April rankings.

John Ternus — Apple 25 years on the engineering floor. Now he has to lead the world's most valuable company. Here's what John Ternus's appointment tells us about leadership.

The Leadership Leaderboard · April 2026 Day One Decisions Josh D’Amaro: What Your First Move as CEO Says About Everything “I know this is hard. These decisions are not a reflection of their contributions.” — Josh D’Amaro, CEO, The Walt Disney Company, 14 April 2026 Real Moves. Real Lessons. One Leader at a Time. 4 min read Josh D’Amaro, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, at the 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting, Burbank, California, 18 March 2026. Image: © Getty Images — used for editorial reference. Josh D’Amaro became CEO of The Walt Disney Company on 18 March 2026, succeeding Bob Iger after a carefully managed succession process. A 28-year Disney veteran, he ran the parks, built Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus, and led the Experiences division to $36 billion in annual revenue. Twenty-seven days into the job, he sent a memo to all...

The Leadership Leaderboard · April 2026 Tim Cook: Leading Apple Through Its Most Pressured Year in a Decade and Knowing When To Handover Real Moves. Real Lessons. One Leader at a Time. 5 min read Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, January 2026. Image: © AFP / Getty Images — used for editorial reference. Update — 21 April 2026 Shortly after this post was published, Apple confirmed that Tim Cook will step down as CEO on 1 September 2026, with John Ternus — Apple's Head of Hardware Engineering taking over as the company's eighth CEO. Cook will remain as Executive Chairman. The succession question this post raised has now been answered. The analysis below covers Cook's leadership through April 2026 and stands as written. Watch this space — John Ternus will feature in a future edition of The Leadership Leaderboard. Apple turned 5...