Transitions at the Top

It has been estimated that 40% of executives fail within the first 18 months on the job, regardless of whether they were hired from outside the company or promoted from within. This failure rate is becoming enormously costly for businesses. The annual cost of CEO departures is $14 billion dollars in the United States alone. Despite an overabundance of resources targeting incoming executives, this trend shows no signs of reversing. So, the arrival of Transitions at the Top is cause for celebration, because this is the first book that addresses the real core of the issue-the management of CEO transitions by major players within the company. Board members, outgoing CEOs, human resources executives, and senior managers play an absolutely crucial part in ensuring that incoming CEOs are successful in those critical first eighteen months. Without organization, planning, and strategy on the part of these leaders, CEO transitions are problematic at the outset. Yet major players tend to think their job ends as soon the board's offer is accepted. Transitions at the Top explains why this is a myth, and why it's one of the most costly rrors a business can make. The key people involved with C-suite transitions have the power to ensure that the transition is successful-if they understand their oles and follow the necessary steps. Leadership transition is more complex than many realize, affecting the company's strategy, operating efficiency, and culture. The authors of Transitions at the Top break down every stage in the process, including the adjustments required by everyone involved. These include individual adjustments on the part of the outgoing CEO, the directors, and others, and also large-scale systemic adjustments that involve everyone, at every level. In many ways, these systemic changes are really where the challenge of CEO transitioning lies. This book details the fundamental strategic, political, cultural, and operational tasks that each of the key stakeholders must perform in order to secure a successful change of leadership. Transitions at the Top may just be the missing link for the growing number of organizations that need to successfully manage leadership changes. With chapters dedicated to board members, outgoing CEOs, Chief Human Resources Officers, and senior managers, this book delivers must-know information within an overall transition framework that, based on the authors' more than eighty years of combined experience, works. By focusing on the real driving forces on the organization's side of the transition equation, Transitions at the Top proves indispensable to the success of an organization at this game-changing time.