I was once working with a sr exec who was told by his boss: "you're not picking enough fights." They weren't fighting hard enough, pushing for enough change, p

I was once working with a sr exec who was told by his boss: "you're not picking enough fights." They weren't fighting hard enough, pushing for enough change, pissing off enough of the old guard by changing the company's way of doing business. Their boss could tell because people weren't screaming. The other reason you bring your own people in at very senior levels is because, when battle lines are drawn (do X or Y, where X is better but Y has a collective millenia of man-hours already sunk in), a sr exec has to know their reports have latched their careers to them, and not the rest of the company. Because if that's not the case, the sr exec has no chance at all. It's Hobbes' leviathan: you are your org, and vice verse. Gotta make sure everyone acts like it.