For 40 years, I have supported leadership transitions in organizations, first as a senior manager and then as an advisor. I've worked with hundreds of CEOs, board members, and CHROs, and I've seen transitions go smoothly in some cases, and others that nearly wipe out the organizations they've spent decades building.
Succession was rarely the key element. In most cases, it was the outgoing CEO who determined whether the transition would succeed or fail.
CEOs who manage succession well are not necessarily diligent or disciplined. They are just as competitive and selfless as their peers. What sets them apart is that they treat succession as an important aspect of their leadership role, rather than just a governance task. They are responsible for it as well as strategy, culture and capital allocation. And they start planning for it early on.
Here are five things these CEOs are doing differently.
1. They separate their identity from their tenure.
Most CEOs don't avoid succession planning out of arrogance. The real reason is that their personal identity is tied to their organizational role. Preparing to take over someone becomes very personal because once you've been in the job for more than a decade, it's hard to separate who you are and what you do.
Successful CEOs already separate themselves from their roles before external forces force them to do so. They can look at a potential successor and feel proud rather than threatened. This is not just a personality trait. It's a conscious choice, often made with the support of coaches, trusted colleagues, and executives who can hold you accountable.
Until CEOs make this choice, all succession conversations will be managed on autopilot rather than truly led.
2. They build their leadership bench out loud.
Most organizations have some form of succession planning in place. However, most CEOs do not demonstrate a visible commitment to developing talent within their companies. They often view this as a private HR exercise rather than a public commitment to leadership change.
CEOs who do this well talk openly with their senior teams about career development. They give you stretching challenges and explain why. “I put you in this role because I want to see how you lead through ambiguous situations, and I want you to know that that's what I'm focused on.” After the big moment, they discuss not only the results, but also the leadership behaviors shown or not shown.
This is not about training a single successor. It's about creating a culture where leadership development is treated as a critical priority for the organization, rather than an annual conversation that feeds review documents that no one reads between cycles.
A leadership bench is not built automatically. And it cannot be built on a foundation of intuition disguised as judgment. Either CEOs build systems they can trust, or their organizations run according to their wishes.
3. Stay involved without controlling the process.
This is the most difficult part to get right, and where even well-intentioned CEOs often make mistakes in succession planning.
In some cases, a CEO's involvement in succession looks like leadership, but in reality, it's about control. This may mean being overly involved in setting standards, subtly steering board discussions toward favorite candidates, or raising concerns about internal candidates and delaying decisions. This is usually not done intentionally. This happens when a CEO asserts their commitment to a successor but isn't emotionally ready.
CEOs who do this well understand the difference between being involved and leading. They participate in the process, share their opinions when asked, and are honest with the board about what they know and don't know. Then make the governance process work. They recognize that their credibility rests with the board and a new CEO who believes the process is truly fair.
CEOs who seek to control their successors may get the results they desire, but a smooth transition is rarely achieved.
4. They treat organizational knowledge as a transferable asset.
Every CEO has knowledge that no one else in the organization has. This may include relationships with key stakeholders, the reasoning behind important decisions, and cultural history that explains why some things work well and others don't, even if it's not obvious from the outside.
Most outgoing CEOs do not systematically pass on this knowledge. They hope the new leader will figure it out or hold quick, informal talks during the brief transition period. As a result, new CEOs often understand the organization's structure but not its know-how. They spend the first year relearning what the previous CEO already knew and often make avoidable mistakes.
CEOs who do this well treat knowledge transfer as an important part of the transition process. They incorporate it into their plans, clarifying who to introduce and why, the context behind key decisions, and hidden issues that new leaders should be aware of. Document these things and set up structured times to overlap, rather than just casual meetings.
The litmus test is easy. If the new CEO takes over with a clear understanding of the company's current state and future prospects, then the outgoing CEO has done his or her job. It wasn't as if the new CEO was left confused.
5. Before you leave, define what a successful transition looks like.
CEOs who manage succession well set clear goals for the transition and hold themselves accountable. Success does not lie in maintaining their own legacy or current strategy. It means the organization can maintain performance, new leaders have the necessary insights, and the transition doesn't create a crisis of trust, both internally and externally.
This definition means that the outgoing CEO must let go of something that is no longer under his control. The new CEO will make different choices, some better and some worse. After the transition, these decisions will no longer be the responsibility of the outgoing CEO.
CEOs who have problems with this tend to stay on too long to maintain influence, quit suddenly, or stay in an advisory role too long. In each case, the real problem is the same. They don't accept that their ultimate mission as leaders is to make themselves unnecessary.
Those who do this well understand that it takes most leaders years to learn. That said, the effects don't end just because you have a good retirement. For many CEOs, this is the most important and enduring leadership responsibility they will ever have.
