In a broader sense you can't really take this advice and roll into a CTO role and repeat it. The problems are going to be different everywhere, even though the result might feel the same: Some 'slowness' at these congealed organizations where things aren't moving to the naked eye. That's where the similarities usually stop. You have to talk to the executives to figure out what the perceived issues are, and then talk to your staff (and skip all the way to the implementers) to figure out what their issues are too. Only with a full picture can you figure out what the problems are, and what some potential solutions might be.

* You cannot rely on people to provide face value suggestions or problems because politics is actually a thing.

* You cannot rely on people to provide meaningful action items because incentives are usually misaligned.

* The whole team will probably know about a division or group that needs to be fired and nobody will do it; if you don't then you immediately lose face.

* Companies at this scale usually value predictability over speed. So building reporting structures that values said predictability works wonders.