The graceful exit: mastering the art of CEO succession

What great CEO succession looks like — and why most organisations wait too long, plan too little, and pay a high price for it.

The greatest threat to your legacy as CEO isn’t market disruption or a missed quarter—it’s the silent damage caused by staying in power one year too long, undermining everything you’ve built.

The famous investor Warren Buffett, 94, plans to step down later this year as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Nothing is forever. As obvious as it may sound, the behavior of business owners and CEOs does not always reflect this. If we lead a business, we too must step down sooner or later. All too often, we stay too long in our positions of power. Why? Because we deceive ourselves. Because we don’t know what else to do. We get a bit too comfortable and used to the status and power of the position. We fall victim to inertia. It’s what we’ve always done and what we’ve focused on for the last 30–40 years. No wonder it’s difficult to let go and move on. Perhaps it’s more psychological than we’d like to admit to ourselves. After all, we’re only human.

Key takeaways

• Leaders who overstay their welcome often undermine long-term company value, so proactively planning your own succession is one of the most responsible decisions you can make for your organization.
• You must actively seek honest feedback from trusted people outside your immediate circle—especially those with no stake in your succession—if you want to keep your ego in check and make the right exit decisions.
• Accepting that nothing is forever allows you to approach your exit with clarity, ensuring both your legacy and your company’s future are protected rather than left to chance or inertia.

It’s almost impossible to look at ourselves objectively. And when people have the guts to try to tell us something, we readily dismiss their observations as untrue. Instead, we let our emotions overwhelm us. We treat our feelings as more important than the interests of the company. It’s not that we intend to do this. But it’s what happens. We fail to leave our ego at the door.

The result is that many organizations go through chaotic succession processes. When this happens, they miss opportunities to create value for their stakeholders. It’s shallow and short-term thinking. In the worst cases, a badly managed succession can lead to the collapse of a business. Sometimes even bankruptcy. It destroys company value.

Nothing is forever. The sooner we make peace with this, the better it is for us and for those around us.

Building self-awareness

Invest in your self-awareness. Keep actively inviting people to give you feedback. You need to hear what you need to hear! Keep yourself grounded! This should never stop.

When it comes to your succession, reach out to five to ten people you trust. People with different interests in the outcome or, even better, no personal stake in it. People from both your private life and your professional circles. Ask them: When is it time for me to retire? Do you think I am past my peak? What would you advise me to do? Ask follow-up questions only to clarify what they mean, and wrap up by saying: Thank you! Keep an open mind.

Talk to someone you trust outside your business. Open up and allow yourself to receive support. This is one of those situations where some assistance can make a major difference. Let others help you. Don’t try to solve everything yourself; it’s not in your best interest.

Plan your succession early

Start planning for your own succession early—as soon as you accept the CEO role. A healthy succession process can easily take five to seven years, depending on the size and complexity of the business.

Develop a pipeline of potential successors. Ideally three. That keeps the process manageable and avoids relying on a single candidate. Start working more closely with them and invest in their development.

Seek inspiration by talking to people who have already taken this step. Ask them about their experiences. See what resonates with you in their stories and decide what might work for you too.

If you’ve devoted more of your life to work than to your personal and family life, have no regrets. You cannot change the past anyway. What you can do is set different priorities for the future and start your next chapter today!

And to finish with a cliché: enjoy the journey! Nobody gets out of life alive. The graveyard is full of people who were considered indispensable. But life and business go on, with or without us. The sooner we make peace with this, the better it is for us and for those around us.

Let people remember what you have contributed to the business. Try to identify your peak and where you are today. Leave a positive legacy. Stop. Move on. Make peace with your emotions and create a roadmap for the next phase of your life. Life is good.

Over to you.