What’s the Role of Emotional Intelligence in CEO succession?

This is a quick post today as it’s the final days of summer and there are lots of outdoor activities calling me into the forest.  But, this is important and I want to share it.    

A client asked me this week:  What is the link between emotional intelligence and CEO transitions?  What have I directly experienced?

Here is what I have observed: 

While a CEO Transition governance framework is designed to be a rational, objective framework, its success is fundamentally dependent on the people’s ability to manage subjective, emotional elements.

The rules and procedures of a Board, CEO Council, or Family Governance Committees are only as effective as the relational trust and emotional capacity of the members who agree to follow them.

This presents a central tension: a well-written governance constitution can prescribe behaviors, but it cannot instill the self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management skills necessary for those behaviors to be enacted harmoniously.

The structure can define the roles, but emotional intelligence provides the capability for individuals to successfully navigate the complex requirements of those roles.

This is why no two CEO Transitions are alike. You can have the best, most well laid out plan, but how people move through that plan will determine the work involved. And, each group of stakeholders must define the values and behaviours that are important to them.