Are you grooming a fast baker? Or A slow riser?

Why pacing matters in CEO Transitions.

In the high-stakes arena of CEO succession, we often obsess over a candidate’s "readiness"—as if leadership were a static destination. But after 20 years of advising the C-suite, I have learned that we have to pay attention to a candidate’s internal clock.

Drawing on psychologist Robert Epstein’s work, I look for two distinct internal clocks: The Fast Riser and The Slow Baker. 

The Fast Riser is like Quick-Rise Yeast. They shoot to the top with high energy and rapid development. The slow baker is more like a Sourdough Starter. Their development is steady, incremental, and they take time to rise.  Both can be equally good, just a different rising process.

I recently advised a "Fast Riser." He was being considered for a CEO role that required navigating complex market dynamics - something he had never done before. Conventional wisdom suggested he needed more "seasoning." But his track record was defined by rising to the moment; he thrived precisely when the stakes outpaced his experience. To slow him down would have been to extinguish his talent.  We focused on putting Advisory support systems around him, along with decision making controls.

Contrast that with a "Slow Baker" I know. Years ago, she was offered a prestigious chief executive role. She turned it down. She was raising her children and recognized she didn’t lack ambition; she understood her own pace. Today, in her fifties, she is a market-leading CEO—formidable, grounded, and far more effective than she would have been had she rushed the process decades ago.

The Risk of Mismatched Pacing:

• For the Fast Riser: If you hold them back, they don't get better; they get bored and leave.

• For the Slow Baker: If you push them too soon, you don't accelerate them; you push them out or might break their confidence and trust.

The most successful Boards don't just ask if a successor is "ready." They ask: Is the organization’s clock synchronized with theirs?

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