29 | Season 3 Recap: What We Learned on CEO Selection and Succession

In this episode of Build Better Boards, the team recaps their season-long focus on CEO succession and evaluation. They reflect on why these topics matter even when a transition is not imminent and how the processes and questions explored can strengthen boards and cooperatives overall.

• CEO succession and evaluation are not just “event” activities; treating them as ongoing processes helps boards clarify expectations, support their current CEO, and improve overall governance.
  
• The hosts revisit key frameworks such as defining the “avatar” for the next CEO, considering wartime vs. peacetime leadership, and weighing inside vs. outside candidates, emphasizing that boards should prioritize leadership fit, adaptability, and cooperative values over rigid categories.
  
• They highlight the value of executive search firms and outside expertise, arguing that using professional support in CEO hiring is a responsible use of members’ equity and can be part of good fiduciary practice.
  
• CEO evaluation emerges as a major theme, with encouragement for boards to move beyond box-checking, involve the CEO appropriately in shaping the process, and use evaluation to communicate expectations, provide meaningful feedback, and gather insight into leadership and culture.
  
• Looking ahead, they identify unfinished topics such as how boards navigate exiting a CEO, the ripple effects of CEO turnover across the co-op system, and the need to think about board member tenure and succession with the same intentionality as CEO transitions.
  

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