{"id":7202,"date":"2025-07-18T17:49:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7202"},"modified":"2025-08-11T18:01:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T18:01:39","slug":"how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/","title":{"rendered":"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When the president or CEO is getting up there in age or is planning a move, that outgoing leader\u2019s support in the transition is crucial.<\/p>\n<p>Academy of Management Scholar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/donald-hambrick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Hambrick<\/a> of Pennsylvania State University, who published an <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aom.org\/doi\/10.5465\/amr.2018.0426\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article in <em>Academy of Management Review<\/em><\/a> on this topic, said that top leaders\u2019 mindset is \u201ca relatively stable motivational orientation that stems from the CEO\u2019s disposition and accumulated life experiences\u201d, laying the foundation for the succession and the preparation of the selected successor. He and coauthors Aparna Joshi and Jiyeon Kang, both Penn State colleagues, identified four types of such CEO mindsets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>generative<\/li>\n<li>hyper-generative<\/li>\n<li>hypo-generative<\/li>\n<li>anti-generative<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cOf the four types, we hold up in the most positive light what we call the generative CEO,\u201d Hambrick said. \u201cThis is somebody who understands that he or she is eventually going to have to move on and has no issue with that and is getting ready for that and who also is not insistent on driving the succession-planning process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe or she leaves that up to the board out of recognition that the board needs to have the leeway to pick somebody they\u2019re comfortable with\u2014possibly at the 11th hour\u2014who is needed to respond and adapt to emerging conditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not necessarily somebody who\u2019s in the same mold as the incumbent themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><em>A sample of Hambrick\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aom.org\/doi\/10.5465\/amr.2018.0426.summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Four CEO Mindsets Can Affect Their Replacements\u2019 Transitions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aom.org\/doi\/10.5465\/amj.2020.0435.summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How CEOs Become A-List Stars<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aom.org\/doi\/10.5465\/amr.2016.0064.summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Celebrity CEOs Often Get Typecast into One of Four Roles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aom.org\/doi\/10.5465\/ame.2001.5897655.summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Are You Sure You Have a Strategy?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Daniel Butcher When the president or CEO is getting up there in age or is planning a move, that outgoing leader\u2019s support in the transition is crucial. Academy of Management Scholar Donald Hambrick of Pennsylvania State University, who published an article in Academy of Management Review on this topic, said that top leaders\u2019 mindset [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,20,74,19],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-7202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c-suite","category-careers","category-hr","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-18T17:49:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T18:01:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":274,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"C-SUITE\",\"CAREERS\",\"HR\",\"LEADERSHIP\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\\\/\",\"name\":\"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors - 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Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors","datePublished":"2025-07-18T17:49:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-11T18:01:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/"},"wordCount":274,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp","articleSection":["C-SUITE","CAREERS","HR","LEADERSHIP"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/","name":"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp","datePublished":"2025-07-18T17:49:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-11T18:01:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/how-ceos-can-help-plan-for-their-successors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How CEOs Can Help Plan for Their Successors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",1000,667,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",1000,667,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",1000,667,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",800,534,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",1000,667,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",1000,667,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",600,400,false],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",350,233,false],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/smiling-business-leader-1.webp",100,67,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/c-suite\/\" rel=\"category tag\">C-SUITE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/hr\/\" rel=\"category tag\">HR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/leadership\/\" rel=\"category tag\">LEADERSHIP<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher When the president or CEO is getting up there in age or is planning a move, that outgoing leader\u2019s support in the transition is crucial. Academy of Management Scholar Donald Hambrick of Pennsylvania State University, who published an article in Academy of Management Review on this topic, said that top leaders\u2019 mindset&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7202"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=7202"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}