Succession planning

More than ever, companies need leaders who are good with people.

Hit the ground running with a thoughtful personal pitch.

Leadership transitions go awry with alarming frequency, often the result of an emotionally charged power struggle between the CEO and his would-be heir. Four practices, however, can help successors defuse the crisis—and make it to the top.

For too long, boards have relied on rules of thumb and conventional wisdom when picking CEOs. New research offers some surprising insights that will better...

“Did I find it frustrating as the White House Chief of Staff? Toughest job I ever had, but…if you find it unpleasant to cope with a complex problem that is simultaneously the business of four or five Cabinet departments, several public interest groups, and the Congress, and one that the President will finally decide, then […]

Judging from how they're portrayed in the media, it would be easy to dismiss family businesses as hotbeds of power-playing, backstabbing, and favor-currying,...

Gill Corkindale, executive coach and former management editor of the Financial Times. While nepotism is accepted in some countries, it poses dangers. These include damaged morale when employees hired by family underperform on the job or receive special treatment.

Many boards struggle with succession practices.

Why the “back-to-the-future” approach to succession can work for some companies.

Encourage them to build a career outside the firm first.

Actions speak louder than words, especially when leading change.

Traditionally, corporate boards have left leadership planning and development very much up to their CEOs and human resources departments--primarily because...

The chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group reflects on the advice of his high school track coach, who continually reminded him that the person who is...

From the moment Mulcahy stepped into her job as CEO, in 2001, the Xerox board began discussing who would succeed her. Looking back on the long process...

Robert B. Zoellick, a former president of the World Bank Group who has held senior posts at the State and Treasury departments and the White House, offers...

As the chairman of a publicly traded multinational corporation, it's difficult to contemplate replacing a charismatic, visionary CEO who tripled your...

As people develop competence in a new domain of expertise, they move along an S Curve: Growth is slow and effortful at the outset, or launch point. It...

Expectations for company leaders have never been greater. This issue’s Spotlight illuminates the changing conditions that CEOs must adapt to, the skills they particularly need, certain executive lifestyle behaviors to watch out for, and the reasons you might want two people in the top job.

Most CEOs and most board members manage the CEO’s succession well. In many companies, CEOs are bound by tradition or policy to step down at a certain age, and plan accordingly. Many have enough vision and insight to overcome any momentary desire to stay on, and indeed take pleasure in training and developing the next […]

Dick Costolo is leaving Twitter, and Jack Dorsey will take over, at least temporarily.