"Prioritizing Experience: With the Stakes so High for Selecting the Right CEO, Are Boards Looking for a Safer Bet?" from Spencer Stuart discusses boards' growing preference for CEO candidates with prior board or CEO experience, the bases for this preference, and the facts that undermine the belief that prior CEO or board experience is necessarily a better or safer bet.
Among other things, the firm notes no discernible link between prior board or CEO experience and increased shareholder value; dispenses with the notion that prior successes in one CEO context translate to likely success in another; and cautions that boards may be undervaluing potential in reliance on unfounded assumptions.
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