Leapfroging more common in CEO suite

BCG has issued a report on the growing trend by Boards to leapfrog incumbent CEOs, or when they reach down below the obvious, next layer of management to select a new CEO.  The concept is that notwithstanding the risks of such an approach such as lack of experience, the benefits of attracting dynamic, energetic and forwarded thinking executives will outweight the costs.  As noted in earlier posts, CEO succession is one of the key issues to be decided by a board, along with monitoring and serving as an advisor to the CEO on corporate affairs.

The BCG article identifies several higher profile examples of CEO leapfroging, including the tech industry.  My experience at the Royal Bank of Canada 10 years ago was that folks felt a younger CEO could be in place for an extended period, another potential benefit of leapfroging assuming the candidates are younger than more obvious incumbents. A final benefit, identified in the piece, is that such leaders may be able to better embrace distruptive influences and turn such dynamics to the companies benefit.  See the full article at https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/talent_leadership_human_resources_leapfrog_succession_new_trend_appointing_ceos/.