Dennis Carey Info.

Dennis Carey also points out that the contemporary trend for CEOs to stay in their position fewer years then the duration they were there in the past has added even more relevance to this corporate issue. Over the past several years the average length of a CEOs tenure decreased from about 8 years on average to even less than five years. Therefore, having a succession plan is an urgent issue that touches corporate life across the board.

Today boards discuss succession planning more than any other topic aside from making sure the current chief executive is the right one for the job. One probable reason that this subject is taken more seriously than it has been in the past is due to the provisions demanded by the groundbreaking Sarbanes-Oxley Act; the need to have “executive session” meetings, meaning that the board must meet without the executives present; the better to discuss their eventual replacement.

Dennis Carey, an expert on helping companies through the succession process, urges that boards make drawing up a succession plan part of the criteria for a boss’s pay. “Twice a year the board should ask the question, ‘Joe, if you were hit by a truck, who do you recommend should take over your role?’ The CEO should then write the name in a sealed envelope,” Dennis Carey continues, “in the eventuality of a truck-hitting incident.”

Continued…

In the past ten years the issue of executive succession has become ever more important. All too often large, successful companies find themselves in crisis mode when, for whatever reason, the CEO must depart from his position. If a company has no well-thought-out plan about how to react to the departure of its leader, the company can be left in a precariously vulnerable position, creating uncertainty which can affect the company’s value and its ability to function efficiently.

To Be Continued…

Dennis Carey, in his book entitled CEO Succession,  makes a strong case for the newly appointed CEO to already begin planning his replacement, even as he is dealing with the other myriad urgent issues vying for his attention at the outset of his tenure. As Carey puts it,

“Planning for a successor can go a long way toward reassuring employees and investors and steadying the company. And if the new CEO isn’t interested in the task, the board should be.”

Carey understands that planning for your own departure might not be a task most people would want to tackle. According to Carey,

“After all, it’s human nature to avoid dealing with things that entail planning for your own demise. Yet, no CEO is ever completely safe from an abrupt end to a career, whether through illness, poor performance, or other reasons. No one is immortal and there is no guarantee that a CEO will remain with the company until retirement.”

According to Carey, a successful company is one that can, “focus on building strength and leadership at every level.”

It might seem strange, or at least counter-intuitive, to begin looking for your own replacement immediately upon beginning a new job, but that is exactly what Dennis Carey recommends should be the task of a newly appointed CEO.

According to Dennis Carey in his book CEO Succession,

“Companies that are truly successful at succession are those that focus on building strength and leadership at every level. If done continuously and properly, this “succession culture” becomes an integral part of the fabric of the company. A fabric or matrix is, in fact, a good way of conceptualizing “succession culture,” fostering strong relationships and interdependency of individuals at all levels.”