Successful CEO Succession
To go more deeply into the issue of CEO candidate assessment, the National Association of Corporate Directors’ Blue Ribbon Commission on CEO succession interviewed seven experts from RHR and asked them to identify the characteristics of successful CEOs with whom they had worked. Over the course of more than 50 years of working with corporate clients, RHR recognizes that there are several general characteristics that can be seen as the common denominators of successful CEOs.
But these general characteristics are not specific enough for creating a good match between the CEO and the company. Corporate challenges and objectives must be considered as well: how a company ranks in its competitive situation; where it is in its development as a company; it’s strategic intent; its performance.
In an attempt to provide guidelines for matching the company’s needs to the individual, RHR identified four corporate scenarios which have a bearing on the capabilities and behavioral style needed by CEOs in those circumstances.