Inside CEO Succession: The Essential Guide to Leadership Transition 1st Edition

The authors did a the great job of laying out an organized CEO succession process to guide boards through the most important decision they will make.

The book is written by leaders at RHR - a consultancy that works with CEO succession. This is a positive in that they have lots of experience. This is a negative as they may have a bias to using consultants.The book talks about how CEO succession has changed. How the long term CEO is a thing of the past. I, personally, know of companies that still have long tenured CEOs and I wonder if there is a linkThe book is rich with examples of CEO successions that have gone right and those that have gone wrong.The 10 steps they suggest:1 - Establish board involvement and ownership. CEO succession is one of the most important functions of the board.2 - Set succession timeframes3 - Prepare for emergencies4 - Align strategy and profile5 - build a talent pipeline6 - Source external talent and manage search firms7 - Select the CEO8 - Proactively manage the transition9 - Measure performance and improve process10 - Manage the dynamics in CEO SuccessionDue to the critical nature of CEO Succession, I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in the process.

I know these authors and they know their stuff. Frames the problem/challenges clearly. Lead Directors, take note! No board role is more important; few even come close to executing this well.

Terrific resource!

Informative reference, good book to start learning about the field.

A useful handbook for succession planning. Very important emphasis on planning as a process not a one off event! Could be more succinct at times but it does provide a useful framework and checklist for actually planning succession. The examples from past failures and successes are particularly helpful illustrations of potential pitfalls if succession is not planned systematically.