37 | CEO Succession: Six Reasons to Start Now (and Five Things in Your Way)

In this episode of Build Better Boards, hosts Dr. Keri Jacobs and Richard Fagerlin dig into CEO succession planning, using Egon Zehnder's article ⁠"CEO Succession Planning for Tomorrow's Success"⁠ as a launch point for what boards should actually be doing right now.

• Succession is not search: Search is the moment you pick someone. Succession is everything that happens in the years before. Most boards collapse the two and start far too late.
• The math is coming: In rural electric alone, roughly 500 of 900 CEOs will be eligible to retire in the next five years. One in three CEOs across sectors exit with little or no notice. If your board hasn't talked about this, that's the risk.
• Six benefits of starting early: Risk mitigation, board alignment, development of internal candidates, honest assessment of external candidates, smoother transitions, and strategic continuity. Keri and Richard walk through each with examples from co-op boardrooms.
• Five obstacles to name out loud: Delegating the process to an incumbent CEO with conflicting interests, starting too late, insufficient board exposure to internal candidates, bias toward external hires, and resistance to change when a popular CEO departs.
• Say goodbye to the long goodbye: Richard pushes back on drawn-out transitions. Continuity matters. Endless overlap does not. The day you announce the new CEO is often the day they should be the CEO.
• Responsible vs. accountable: The CEO is responsible for executing a leadership development strategy. The board is accountable for ensuring one exists. Keri frames this as part of a board's fiduciary duty.

Find show notes and more at ⁠buildbetterboards.com/podcast⁠.