CEO Succession Crisis: Lessons Learned.

In today's complex business environ-ment, a smooth CEO succession is be-coming more difficult. A thoughtful process is needed to develop an effective successor at the CEO level. Ideally, poten-tial successors are given multiple line and staff responsibilities. The finalist then serves as COO, which provides the experience of managing the corporation as a whole. It also allows the CEO and the board an op-portunity to more closely mentor and eval-uate the potential new CEO.

But no matter how well-thought-out the plan is, it isn't always going to work.

When the incumbent CEO is close to re-tirement and the smooth succession plan fails, quick action on the part of the CEO and board is critical. At this juncture, in-vestor, …