Private Equity
Assessment and leadership development for portfolio-company leaders — building the bench the growth plan assumes, weighted to healthcare and the years right after acquisition.
PE Portfolio Companies →Bench Strength Advisors
Experts leading experts
Being excellent at the work is not the same as leading the people who do it.
We help law firms, PE-backed companies, and boards assess leadership readiness, develop their leaders, and prepare successors.
Jeffrey Cohn co-authored Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? — and helped write the very first strategy case on Apple.
Who we serve
Law Firms
Coaching and cohort programs for partners moving into team, practice, office, and firm-wide leadership.
Law Firms →Boards & CEOs
Succession and leadership assessment for the board's most consequential decision — who leads next.
Leadership Assessment →How we help
01
Bench Strength analysis
A map of the pipeline for the roles that matter most — who is coming through, who is ready, and where the bench runs dry.
02
Leadership potential assessments
Strengths, the risks that could derail them, and the conditions under which they succeed — assessed against the next role, not the current one.
03
Coaching
Confidential 360 feedback and advice that help proven experts become better leaders and take on fundamentally new leadership mindsets.
04
Cohort programs
Leaders at the same transition point, inside one organization, solving a real business problem — coaching, confidential 360s, action learning, case discussion.
Office profitability rose 23% over two years under a managing partner we coached.
Succession
Who should lead next — and how do you know?
Strong performance in today's role is not enough evidence for tomorrow's appointment. We help you assess potential successors against the demands of the role and identify what they need to be ready.
You receive a clear view of readiness, the risks to address, and priorities for development.
Explore our succession work →The principals
Jeffrey brings strategic leadership advice. Carrie brings psychological, behavior-based coaching. Together: sound decisions, and change that sticks.
Every engagement is led by a founder. There is no junior bench.
The conversations behind the work. On the Imperfect Leaders podcast, Jeffrey talks with leaders including Brad Karp, Alex Spiro, Doug Leone, Kent Thiry, and Amy Edmondson about the missteps and course corrections behind enduring careers.
Listen to Imperfect Leaders →Featured article
What Private Equity Can Teach Boards About Succession
Jeffrey Cohn argues that private equity's hold period makes succession testable: the sponsor intends to leave, and what the next buyer inherits is not just a leadership team but the company's ability to keep preparing one.
Read the article →Research in development — Hiring opens the door. What happens next? Our interview-based study of how employers develop neurodivergent talent.
Explore the study →August Leadership
Bench Strength is founder-led; when a client needs executive search or international reach, we work with our partners at August Leadership, a global talent management consultancy — search engagements are contracted and delivered by August.
About — Our partnership with August Leadership →