Whether you’re approaching the planned end of your tenure, or you’re simply moving on to your next challenge, as the CEO and leader of a membership organisation, you may be wondering what role you should play in finding your successor.
It can be uncomfortable to think about who will fill your shoes, but taking your place in the driver’s seat and steering the Executive Search process can have it’s benefits for both you and your organisation.
Leadership transition has the ability to make or break an organisation. Any CEO, no matter the length of tenure, will want to ensure that their organisation is left in a strong position. By playing an active role in finding the next leader, you can ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.
With the sitting CEO visibly at the helm of finding the right replacement, both your employees and association members can be confident in the transition, maintaining morale, engagement and retention.
Your in-depth knowledge of the company’s culture, values and mission is not only invaluable in helping to select a strategic fit but your involvement in the process also helps to ensure your own strategic vision of the association remains on track.
You may choose to drive search toward like-minded leaders, giving you the opportunity to find a replacement who will carry on the torch toward the goals for which you have set the foundations.
Your unique perspective as the sitting leader is essential to help selecting the true best fit to ensure future success, whether that be someone who aligns with your vision and continues your legacy, or someone who brings a new perspective that can build on all you have achieved.
Either way, your input in the decision can become your final achievement for the organisation, knowing you have helped to set them up for future success under new leadership and a new direction.
Driving the new CEO hiring process enables you to steady the waters and ensure minimum disruption. Subsequently ensuring that the position of your organisation remains strong during your exit.
A willingness to help choose the right leader to take the company forward to its next chapter showcases your commitment to the success and strategic vision of the organisation. Handled with grace and professionalism, taking control of your replacement can reflect well on your professional and personal character.
As much as a smooth transition will mitigate risk within the organisation and your stakeholders, a smooth and efficient hiring process can also help to accelerate your exit. Becoming the driver for your own succession can ensure all stakeholders remain on track and decisions are made swiftly.
Choosing the right Executive Search partner who can facilitate smooth stakeholder collaboration and help to make the decision process as efficient as possible can be the catalyst for starting your own new chapter, sooner.
Driving the selection of your own leadership replacement is a unique opportunity. Embrace the experience and the new challenges it brings for personal growth outside of your typical CEO responsibilities.
Succession planning isn’t just about replacing a CEO when the time come, it’s about protecting the business from uncertainty and making sure the next phase of leadership is ready when the moment arrives. A specialist recruitment firm brings market insight, discreet access to top talent, and an objective perspective that helps CEOs and boards build a stronger, more realistic succession plan, one that balances internal development with external readiness and reduces risk long before a transition becomes urgent.
We can tell you:
What great looks like in your sector right now
What competitors are hiring for (and paying)
How available certain profiles actually are
So your succession plan isn’t based on hope or internal bias.
We widen the field to include:
“Ready now” external leaders
“Ready soon” candidates who could step up in 12–24 months
Non-traditional picks (adjacent sectors, different functional paths)
A specialist recruiter can help you define:
What the next CEO needs to deliver, not just their CV keywords
The capabilities and leadership style required for your next phase (growth, turnaround, merger, transformation, etc.)
If you want to quietly explore contingency options or validate internal successors, we can:
Run discreet outreach
Map talent without causing disruption
Give you an honest “this is/isn’t realistic” read
Most CEO-level successors aren’t applying. We reach:
Sitting CEOs/MDs
High-performing deputies
Divisional leaders ready to step up…and can persuade them to have the first conversation.
We can pressure-test candidates against:
Performance evidence
Leadership behaviours
Stakeholder management ability
Board-readiness
We also provide a neutral voice when internal politics make it hard to be candid.
A strong succession plan should include leadership range, not clones. We can support broader pipelines by surfacing:
Different leadership archetypes
Transferable skills from other sectors
More diverse candidate slates
Succession plans often get triggered by surprise events. We can keep you “warm-start ready” with:
Updated market maps
Engaged shortlist-level talent
Realistic timelines and availability data
A good recruiter won’t just promote external hires, we’ll help you decide:
Which internal leaders should be accelerated
What gaps need coaching or experience (e.g., commercial ownership, investor relations)
Whether a “bridge” leader or interim CEO makes sense
We can help structure the process so it’s:
Board-friendly
Transparent
Defensible
Aligned on criteria and decision-making
This matters a lot when you’re accountable to trustees and other key stakeholders
Remaining active and becoming the champion in the search process allows CEOs to achieve their own goals, quicker. In partnering with us, we can ease the process further, taking the strain when it comes to rigorous quality assessment, key competency benchmarking and expert evaluation.” – Dennis Howes, Co-Founder
Find out more about our expert and proven Executive Search service for the membership sector.