How to avoid a CEO succession crisis

Picking the right CEO to succeed at your organization requires careful consideration – here are important considerations when you make the transition.

While CEO succession ostensibly focuses on one particular individual, the ramifications of change at the top can be widespread. In some cases, a change of CEO can signal an entirely new strategic shift, together with the extensive changes in personnel required to adapt and meet that new vision. Sometimes identifying the right successor, along with the cultural and practical steps they will require to do their job effectively, is straightforward. On other occasions, picking out the right person and carving out the terrain required for them to succeed can be fraught with difficulty. Unfortunately, for most organizations a smooth transition is the exception to the rule – the evidence suggests that around one-third to one-half of new CEOs, regardless of whether they are internal or external hires, fail within the first…