Skip to Main Content

CEO Succession and Leadership Development

An organization is only as strong as its pipeline of leaders. We share insights on common challenges and opportunities in leadership development and succession planning.

Our Latest Insights

From CEO and board succession to developing the next generation of leaders, we offer perspectives on effective assessment, succession planning processes and the critical role of organizational culture.

2023 CEO Transitions in Europe

Leadership changes at the top of European business, including data on CEO transition trends since 2010.
Read more

Advice to New CEOs Building Their Team: Lead with Purpose, Embody Culture & Be Decisive

Our advice for new CEOs for building their team and advancing their agenda.
Read more

A new playbook for high-performing retail CEOs

The concept of a high-performing retail CEO is evolving as the business environment becomes more complex. What will it take to succeed going forward?
Read more

What Your Team’s Not Telling You: Three steps for CEOs to accelerate the performance of their team and company

Most CEOs are unaware of their team’s frustration with the way they lead. Here is how CEOs can actively develop a team able to drive a step change in business performance.
Read more

2023 CEO Transitions in the U.S.

Our analysis of CEO transitions, tenure and backgrounds for the S&P 1500.
Read more

Leadership for a Complex World: Planning for the CEO of the Future

With the business environment becoming even more complex and challenging, more is being asked of CEOs. What are the attributes of effective CEOs in this new context?
Read more

Leading Through Turbulence: Virgin Atlantic’s CEO Centers on ESG and Technology Innovation for Growth

Surviving several years of challenges, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss has the airline poised for long-term growth.
Read more

‘Distinguished’ Podcast: So, You Want to Be a C-Suite Executive?

Spencer Stuart’s Ann Fastiggi sat down for a wide-ranging conversation on the path to the C-suite, and what it takes to be a strong leader today.`
Listen to the podcast

CHRO at the Center: Maximizing the Impact of CEO Succession Planning

CHROs play a nuanced and pivotal role in CEO succession planning. Here are five recommendations for maximizing their impact.
Read more

Seizing Opportunity Amid Disruption: Leadership Traits for a Changing Context

Hershey CEO Michele Buck discusses how the context for top leaders is changing, the critical capabilities for leaders and her advice for building a high-performing, sustainable business.
Read more

Advice for CEOs: Sustaining Personal Energy and Fighting Complacency

The Levi's CEO talks about maintaining personal energy, fighting complacency, how boards can best support the CEO and whether the era of empathetic leadership has passed.
Read more

The Leadership Odyssey

Becoming a more empowering leader is a long and difficult journey, requiring humility, self-awareness, patience and resilience. Here are the three main stages of this journey and tips for succeeding in your own journey.
Read more

Scouting football’s future CEOs

Amidst a fast-changing backdrop to the beautiful game, we present five key qualities that tomorrow's football club CEOs will need for success.
Read more

From Founder-Led to Founder-Inspired: How Founders Can Create Companies That Outlast Their Leadership

Advice and best practices for founders who want to ensure their company’s leadership grows with the needs of the business.
Read more

Leadership Today: Tips for Engaging Hybrid Teams

Purpose, culture and other human elements of leadership are even more important for engaging teams in a hybrid environment.
Read more

How CPG Companies Can Advance Gender Diversity in C-Suite P&L Leadership

Building a diverse GM talent pool is one of the most effective approaches companies can take to increase diversity in the CEO pipeline. What are companies with greater gender diversity at the top doing differently?
Read more

Potential and Experience: Diversifying the CEO Pipeline

Companies will improve the odds of having the right CEO for the future when they develop a pool of talent with diverse backgrounds, skills and perspectives. This requires a dynamic process to discover and develop candidates with high potential and a willingness to look beyond experience.
Read more

Spencer Stuart Director Pulse Survey: CEO Succession

Spencer Stuart’s latest pulse survey of 625 directors on U.S. public and private company boards found a wide range of responses about how they are approaching CEO succession.
Read more

Three ways to find effective future leaders

Developmental gaps and competing priorities are the most significant risks to effective succession planning, according to a Spencer Stuart survey of CHROs. How can retailers find leaders who are capable of taking on such complex and demanding roles?
Read more

The CFO’s Last Mile: Building Towards Success as CEO

Our study suggests that CFOs need to adopt a significant shift in focus as they get promoted to CEO: matching financial prudence with a growth orientation for the business.
Read more

Diversity Matters in CEO Transitions: Here’s How to Overcome the Pipeline Problem

Boards, CEOs and CHROs must reframe how they think about CEO search and succession planning in six areas to help create more diverse representation at the top in the future.
Read more

The Next Chapter for Healthcare CEOs: How to Manage a Successful Transition

Six former long-tenured CEOs at major U.S. hospitals and health systems offer advice and insights for successfully transitioning out of the C-suite.
Read more

The Last Mile to the Top: Future CEOs Who Beat the Odds

CEOs who outperform prepare for success long before they get the job. Our new research highlights specific development advice for leaders on the four primary paths to CEO.
Read more

Predicting CEO Success: When Potential Outperforms Experience

New research sheds light on the benefits and limits of prior experience, and how boards can select the CEO who is most likely to succeed given the opportunities and challenges the company faces.
Read more

Finding the Right CEO

This article, published in the January–February 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review, highlights Spencer Stuart research looking at where CEO successors come from, the relative performance of CEOs from different backgrounds and how CEO aspirants can better prepare to outperform as CEO.

Read more

Why Industrial Companies Are Accelerating Change in Leadership Development and Succession: Leadership lessons from the pandemic

We spoke with leaders from a diverse array of industrial companies globally about how their organizations are defining leadership for the future — and what that means for development and succession planning.
Read more

Too Important to Fail: Four New Rules for CEO Succession Planning

To reflect the dynamism of today’s business environment, best-in-class CEO succession planning will plan for more scenarios and develop more succession options.
Read more

Three Ways Leaders Get Assessments Wrong (and How to Get Them Right)

The costs of getting important leadership decisions wrong are high; that’s why it’s critical to get assessment right.
Read more

Unleash your team: 7 questions CEOs can ask to foster better teams

Seven questions CEOs can ask to determine what’s working — and what’s not — on their teams.
Read more

Culture fit versus culture adaptability

Research has found that the people with the best chance of success didn’t fit the culture perfectly. They were more adaptable.
Read more
© 2024 Spencer Stuart