![]() With a ‘leapfrog’ leader or in fact anyone who is in their first CEO role, it is a good idea to also run a board 100 day plan in parallel with the CEO’s own plan. It is usual for a newly appointed CEO to have a 100 day plan which balances the need to be seen to be making an impact in the new role with the requirement to take stock, listen, formulate ideas and earn respect.These must be managed by making sure influential or activist investors are aware of the proposed succession strategy and they are kept informed of progress at regular intervals once the appointment has been made. Investors will inevitably be anxious about the appointment of someone who has not earned their stripes or, even when they welcome the appointment as a refreshing change to a fading CEO, they may have unrealistic expectations.This allows them to gain experience at the right level and earn the respect of their colleagues on the board. Unless a ‘quick fix’ is essential, where, for example the current CEO has quit, or there has been a dramatic shift in the market caused by a disruptive new entrant, it is advisable to bring the new CEO along by appointing them first to a subsidiary board, or to the main board in a non CEO executive role. ![]() These are most likely to be the skills that the current executives are lacking in – if they understand the business need for the new CEO’s profile then they are more likely to accept someone who is younger and less experienced. Many of the ‘leapfrog’ appointments have been made in the retail, technology and telecommunications sectors where a requirement for knowledge and experience of digital media, new technologies or disruptive business models is likely to lead to the selection of younger, more inexperienced candidates. At an early stage in the recruitment process, ensure that the selection criteria for the new CEO is owned by the board, including the other executives, so that there are no surprises when ‘leapfrog candidates appear.The Chairman, with the assistance of the other NEDs can take a number of steps to mitigate these risks: ![]() The two most obvious risks in making a leapfrog CEO appointment is that the new CEO will probably not have had experience of the role, certainly not at this new level and the other executives, who may have been hoping to take on the CEO role themselves may be disappointed or find it difficult to report to someone who has not paid their dues in climbing the corporate career ladder. With all new CEO appointments, boards should ensure that they do as much as they can to ensure a smooth transition and provide the support that is needed to help to make the appointment a success – in the case of ‘leapfrog leaders’ the Chairman and the other Non-Executives will need to be particularly aware of the potential risks and pitfalls of adopting and implementing this CEO succession strategy. The reasons for making these often younger, less experienced appointments are usually to do with either a shortage of suitably qualified experienced candidates or a desire for the organisation to make a step-change by bringing in someone who is more forward looking and possibly more up to date with the latest business trends. She is also a former TechnoServe Fellow.In their article, Leapfrog Succession: A New Trend in Appointing CEOs by Roselinde Torres, Gerry Hansell, Kaye Foster and David Baron, the authors identified an emerging trend whereby an increasing number of CEOs are ‘leapfrog leaders’ meaning that they have been fast-tracked past the more senior executives in the organisation. During her last 2 years at Bain, she led the Australia Results Delivery practice.Ĭhio is passionate about gender diversity, having co-authored Bain/Chief Executive Women research and an ongoing benchmarking study, as well as creating the GBS Sponsorship Program at Telstra.Ĭhio earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Management at ITESM in Mexico City and an MBA from INSEAD. During her 15+ years at the firm, Chio largely focused on customer-driven transformations, combining customer strategy, loyalty, operating model and execution delivery. Prior to that, Chio was a partner at Bain & Company. She joined LeapFrog from Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications and technology company, where Chio was Strategy & Transformation Executive and Process Excellence Executive. ![]() Chio’s experience spans a dozen industries, including airlines, hospitality, retail, telco, consumer goods, insurance, banking and utilities, across North America and Latin America, Australia as well as West and Southern Africa. She came to LeapFrog with 18 years of strategy, operations, and leadership experience, both as an advisor and as an executive. Chio Verastegui is the Head of Strategy and Growth at LeapFrog Investments and runs the Office of the CEO.
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