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Succession: Are You Ready?
A leader's greatest challenge can be knowing when it's time to step aside. A great deal has been written for corporate boards on the issue of succession planning. But most executives have few resources to help guide them through the process. How do you start preparing yourself--and your successor--for your inevitable leadership transition?
In this concise book, leading executive coach and bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith offers candid advice on succession from the outgoing executive's perspective. From choosing and grooming a successor while sidestepping political minefields, to finally handing over responsibility, Goldsmith walks you through each step in the succession process.
Done right, your successor can enter to applause while you gracefully bow out and start the next chapter of your life.
In this concise book, leading executive coach and bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith offers candid advice on succession from the outgoing executive's perspective. From choosing and grooming a successor while sidestepping political minefields, to finally handing over responsibility, Goldsmith walks you through each step in the succession process.
Done right, your successor can enter to applause while you gracefully bow out and start the next chapter of your life.
130 pages, Hardcover
First published December 10, 2008
10 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 19, 2012
I thought this book was an excellent source of information for any CEO that was getting ready to leave a company and the steps the author shares in making that transition a successful one were really planned out...But, I am not a CEO--I am a plant manager that promotes asst. managers to manager rolls every year, therefore I think that this book can apply to that train of thought as well. The steps needed before promoting, during and after can play a huge roll in making that promotion an easy one. The author is very knowledgeable about the schematics of succession, but I feel he is more knowledgeable about sharing his wisdom on how to make a happy, cheerful, successful changing of the guard more appealing to all involved in the transformation process.
July 11, 2021
A short read on what happens in the inside world of a leader and how to manage it when it is time to pass the baton.
September 25, 2022
It's interesting book in the leadership genre. Every leader should read it!
Read
November 8, 2025Great book! Inspired conversation with my wife on handing over our roles in not for profit organization as we get ready to move.
May 18, 2012
Short, Sweet and Spoken with Authority
Marshall Goldsmith, for those familiar with the Leadership consulting field as an academic or practitioner, is someone who needs very little introduction. He has an impressive list of books as well as a great deal of practical experience and is sought out regularly as a teacher for the elite business schools.
While he understates his qualifications to address things like strategic planning, shareholder value concerns and others that could be mentioned, he is unquestionably well qualified to address the issue of CEO succession in most any organization, large or small. His authorship of this small book in the "Memo to the CEO" series is one that is well considered and knowing these elements I entered into this short book expecting the material to be valuable.
In keeping with past books from this series, it reads like a series of memos given in a personal and off-the-cuff manner designed to be conversational and succinct. One gets the feeling reading it, that this represents the wisdom of a career and multiple experiences boiled down into short points that the author wishes he knew himself in his earlier experiences coaching CEOs through this difficult transition. The wisdom is personal and deals in the soft areas of this field like ego, personal feelings, the willingness and ability to let go and the ability to place the needs of an organization and a successor above one's own need to be the top dog.
Frankly, while some reading it may chafe a little at what feels like obvious wisdom, the reality is that most CEOs are strong, ego driven type A leaders who indeed do need to have these seemingly "obvious" elements explained and reinforced in a simple manner to break through those characteristics that have directly to their success. (Yes that's a pretty broad generalization, but then, the book itself can be said to be operating on this premise and given the high level generalization of the book itself seems to match this, it seems fair.)
Given this assumption, the elements of the book are laid out pretty well.
First, prepare yourself and evaluate yourself to address those "blind spots" that this task will expose. Ask yourself how ready and willing you are to give up the power and the limelight and begin to prepare. Then prepare yourself to move on and begin to actually take the steps internally you will need to resolve before the external steps can effectively taken.
Into this mix then can enter the vital step of choosing your successor (to the degree that task falls to you.) Determine if it will be an internal candidate or candidates or an external one. Based on this decision then plan how you will make the transitions and coach and enable that successor to develop the relationships within the organization they will need to build a platform for their own success.
The next portion is the most valuable in this reviewer's opinion. Goldsmith walks a leader through how to move from the position of power to one of encouragement to enable that successor to begin to fill the gap that is voluntarily and deliberately created. This is the area that is probably the least counter-intuitive and the one in which an executive is most likely to attempt to handle as a CEO dictating how things will happen. Yet, to attempt that in this context is to undermine the organization's next leader by making their transition openly dependent upon the old leader. Success depends upon stepping out from the shadow and the transition must take place informally before it takes place formally.
As things move toward completion the a few final nuances can be addressed.
Of course, even in a memo form, Goldsmith fills in the gaps with keen insights and apt anecdotes from his experience.
This book can be read in one reading and it's best to read through it in this manner I think, but then the value will be to return to the appropriate sections for a little reminder and enforcement along the way.
4 Stars.
Bart Breen
Marshall Goldsmith, for those familiar with the Leadership consulting field as an academic or practitioner, is someone who needs very little introduction. He has an impressive list of books as well as a great deal of practical experience and is sought out regularly as a teacher for the elite business schools.
While he understates his qualifications to address things like strategic planning, shareholder value concerns and others that could be mentioned, he is unquestionably well qualified to address the issue of CEO succession in most any organization, large or small. His authorship of this small book in the "Memo to the CEO" series is one that is well considered and knowing these elements I entered into this short book expecting the material to be valuable.
In keeping with past books from this series, it reads like a series of memos given in a personal and off-the-cuff manner designed to be conversational and succinct. One gets the feeling reading it, that this represents the wisdom of a career and multiple experiences boiled down into short points that the author wishes he knew himself in his earlier experiences coaching CEOs through this difficult transition. The wisdom is personal and deals in the soft areas of this field like ego, personal feelings, the willingness and ability to let go and the ability to place the needs of an organization and a successor above one's own need to be the top dog.
Frankly, while some reading it may chafe a little at what feels like obvious wisdom, the reality is that most CEOs are strong, ego driven type A leaders who indeed do need to have these seemingly "obvious" elements explained and reinforced in a simple manner to break through those characteristics that have directly to their success. (Yes that's a pretty broad generalization, but then, the book itself can be said to be operating on this premise and given the high level generalization of the book itself seems to match this, it seems fair.)
Given this assumption, the elements of the book are laid out pretty well.
First, prepare yourself and evaluate yourself to address those "blind spots" that this task will expose. Ask yourself how ready and willing you are to give up the power and the limelight and begin to prepare. Then prepare yourself to move on and begin to actually take the steps internally you will need to resolve before the external steps can effectively taken.
Into this mix then can enter the vital step of choosing your successor (to the degree that task falls to you.) Determine if it will be an internal candidate or candidates or an external one. Based on this decision then plan how you will make the transitions and coach and enable that successor to develop the relationships within the organization they will need to build a platform for their own success.
The next portion is the most valuable in this reviewer's opinion. Goldsmith walks a leader through how to move from the position of power to one of encouragement to enable that successor to begin to fill the gap that is voluntarily and deliberately created. This is the area that is probably the least counter-intuitive and the one in which an executive is most likely to attempt to handle as a CEO dictating how things will happen. Yet, to attempt that in this context is to undermine the organization's next leader by making their transition openly dependent upon the old leader. Success depends upon stepping out from the shadow and the transition must take place informally before it takes place formally.
As things move toward completion the a few final nuances can be addressed.
Of course, even in a memo form, Goldsmith fills in the gaps with keen insights and apt anecdotes from his experience.
This book can be read in one reading and it's best to read through it in this manner I think, but then the value will be to return to the appropriate sections for a little reminder and enforcement along the way.
4 Stars.
Bart Breen
April 5, 2010
Savvy guide to CEO succession
“No matter what I do for the rest of my life, it won’t matter as much as what I did when I was a CEO,” one executive said, describing his wistful feelings as he stepped down from his position. Giving up the reins of corporate power is not easy and preparing your successor for a seamless transition often is even more difficult. Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith tells outgoing CEOs how to handle the often-tricky transition and how to prepare their successors. While it is hardly surprising that a coach advocates coaching, Goldsmith’s pithy, concise 125 pages pack in lots of information and advice. getAbstract suggests this easy read to outgoing leaders and their incoming successors.
To learn more about this book, go to the following Web page: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/11...
“No matter what I do for the rest of my life, it won’t matter as much as what I did when I was a CEO,” one executive said, describing his wistful feelings as he stepped down from his position. Giving up the reins of corporate power is not easy and preparing your successor for a seamless transition often is even more difficult. Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith tells outgoing CEOs how to handle the often-tricky transition and how to prepare their successors. While it is hardly surprising that a coach advocates coaching, Goldsmith’s pithy, concise 125 pages pack in lots of information and advice. getAbstract suggests this easy read to outgoing leaders and their incoming successors.
To learn more about this book, go to the following Web page: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/11...
July 25, 2012
Short and sweet. While I'm not a CEO, I am a volunteer, and the points about leadership succession are definitely transferable to my volunteer roles in my professional society. I've got some great tips and things to try for mentoring my successor there.
December 7, 2010
To successfully transition through Stage 5 leadership, read this book! Goldsmith talks about the often unmentioned side of moving on – the emotional side.
January 20, 2016
Practical advice from a top coach; every CEO should read this
November 7, 2015
Crisp, clear 'to-do's' before u step out of ur responsible shoes!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews