4 Critical Leadership Lessons from Recent CEO Ousters

4 Critical Leadership Lessons from Recent hashtagCEO Ousters

🧠 Are leadership successions a strategic advantage that many hashtagboards overlook?

In today’s high-stakes corporate environment, lacking a robust CEO succession plan isn’t just a governance gap - it’s a flashing red light 🚨that invites scrutiny 🔍 from activist investors!

Yet far too many boards still treat succession as an afterthought, not the strategic cornerstone it truly can be

🎯 In a sharp & timely article first published by Corporate Board Member,  Jeff Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean at Yale School of Management, dissects a real-world case that reveals the costly consequences of delayed or poorly handled leadership transitions.

It highlights Air Products legendary CEO, Seifi Ghasemi, who was ousted at the age of 82

Key Insights

🔍 1. Succession planning is a continuous process, not a contingency plan:World-class boards embed succession into their operating rhythm, not their emergency playbook

🧭 2. Board composition must evolve with strategy: When the business pivots, so should the board. Bringing in directors who reflect future value creation—not just past success—is no longer optional

🤝 3. Activist pressure is a signal, not always a threat: Dismiss activists at your peril. Listening with discipline often reveals blind spots that can strengthen governance & accelerate performance

📣 4. It is estimated that $1 trillion in annual value is destroyed due to poorly managed CEO & C-suite transitions among S&P 1500 companies (2021 analysis in Harvard Business Review by  Claudio Fernández-Aráoz,  Gregory Nagel, and  Carrie Green. Their research highlights that inadequate succession planning—particularly the over-reliance on external hires & the neglect of internal talent pipelines—can lead to significant performance declines, loss of institutional knowledge, & diminished shareholder value

❓A key question for every boardroom:

Once you have selected the right CEO for a planned succession - How do you provide them with the best support once they have been appointed?

👉🏼 Targeted Transition Coaching

But don't take my word for it, take it from a Co-CEO succession candidate who stepped into a family CEO succession that was table stakes for the business

She described our working together as follows: 

“I stepped into my first Co-CEO role about a year ago and selected Navid as my executive transition coach. Whilst this was a big new role for me, we made a lot of progress. As a result of our year-long engagement, I can wholeheartedly say that I got many insights and value for the time that we spent together. Navid’s thoughtful approach meant that at times, we deviated from the Double Diamond Framework of Executive Transitions to spend time on a more urgent or emergent topic. Navid’s coaching was always helpful, and I appreciate the insight and sustainable behaviour shifts that were created during our time together.”