Services - Success Stories

Creating a Successful CEO Transition

The Situation

A market leading financial services firm was challenged with the imminent retirement of a highly effective and widely respected CEO. While an internal successor had already been identified and had been actively groomed for the role, there was concern that the successor might not be ready to take on the role of CEO in the time frame needed. We were invited by the Board and senior management team to assess the successor's readiness for the role.

What We Did

We conducted a comprehensive organizational and leadership assessment of both the CEO and his identified successor. This process identified opportunities and potential barriers to a successful transition, while also revealing each leader's current strengths and challenges. Our assessment revealed:

• The Board and senior leadership team lacked a clear understanding as to how key responsibilities were currently being distributed; there was no clear consensus on how to shift more responsibilities as the CEO's desired departure date approached (a two-year time frame).
• The current CEO felt overly responsible for his successor, having groomed him for the position to date, yet was uncomfortable leaving until his successor was fully ready to assume the mantle of leadership.
• Given the protracted grooming process, and the absence of a concrete transition plan, the successor felt that the CEO lacked confidence in him, and thus he was resistant to further change without a clear timetable for succession.
• Both executives were viewed as strong, outstanding leaders with clear strengths visible to all:
  • The CEO was a revered statesman, who excelled at building strong relationships with others, inspiring them to be their best selves.
  • The successor was an action-oriented leader, seeking the best results in the industry, and able to spot emerging challenges and/or seize opportunities others had overlooked.
• The leadership styles of the two men were significantly different, raising concerns about the impact that a style change might have on the broader culture at senior levels in the firm.

The Results

Over the next twelve to eighteen months, with our assistance:

• The successor embraced and leveraged his strengths in analytical thinking to execute a new strategy, while working on identified challenges in managing inclusion among the senior leadership team; he engaged in leadership coaching to accelerate the leadership transition.
• The organization identified and launched a key initiative for the successor to lead that built on his existing strengths, assisted in his leadership development, and signaled to the broader organization that the formal succession transition was underway.
• The Board established a formal succession plan with clear roles, responsibilities, key milestones, and time frames.

The Outcome

The incumbent CEO departed within his desired time frame and the successor stepped into his new role with minimal stress on the organization; as a result, the CEO was able to leave as one of his legacies a successful leadership transition and the potential for longer-term viability of the organization.

To obtain these results see our Executive "Onboarding" and Leadership Succession Consultation Services.