Chapter 6
Set Succession Time Frames
“Companies that have strong cultures oriented toward minding the store over long periods of time seem to be the ones who have the least controversial and better thought through successions. Those dominated by whoever is running it at the top are the ones that have the problems.”
—Raymond Viault, former vice chairman, General Mills, and independent director of Newell Rubbermaid, and VF Corporation
The Consideration of Timing as a Best Practice
In the absence of a looming succession date or of a sudden unplanned departure or dismissal, there is a natural tendency for boards to treat CEO succession as an episodic event set to occur somewhere in the distant future.
The incumbent CEO may be a young, healthy leader, ...
