Large companies devote plenty of attention and resources to succession planning, yet a PwC study finds that $112 billion in shareholder value is lost annually because companies pick the wrong people to lead them. In our CEO transition work across a wide range of industries, we found that in more than half of the 110 cases our firm assisted with during the last two years, the “obvious” choice was not the candidate most likely to succeed in the CEO role.
When the Heir Apparent Is the Wrong Choice for CEO
Your shortlist probably needs to be longer.
July 10, 2019
Summary.
Maintaining the CEO pipeline is most boards’ top succession planning challenge. Yet even at the most respected companies with disciplined succession processes in place, well-suited candidates may not even make it into the shortlist of succession candidates — overshadowed by “safe” or “chosen” ones. This article identifies three reasons this can happen.