Authors Carey and Ogden draw on personal interviews and their own behind-the-scenes work with the CEOs and directors of some of the leading companies in the world to articulate the field-tested strategies and techniques boards need to create a systematic and transparent planning process that promotes a seamless transition of leadership at every level in the organization. With an up-close look at such companies as Metropolitan Life, Hewlett-Packard, Mellon Bank, and GTE, CEO Succession shows how to put in place the key elements essential in the succession planning process: establish and sustain a reliable succession agenda and timetable; implement a self-renewing succession culture that develops leaders at all levels of management; create a healthy relationship between the Board and CEO that keeps the CEO on track; and benchmark internal candidates for CEO and other top posts with comparable outside leaders.

With practical guidelines and experienced advice from leading consultants in this field, CEO Succession offers a long overdue antidote to what stakeholders, Wall Street, and the media have decried as a lack of board leadership in carrying out its fundamental fiduciary responsibility: ensuring the steady flow of effective leadership in Corporate America.