ChairX Zoom — '21 Questions About CEO Succession' — with INSEAD Professor and Board Expert Stanislav Shekshnia

29/10/26 1:55 pm GMT

'21 Questions About CEO Succession' — with Professor Stanislav Shekshnia

Of all the decisions a board makes, choosing the CEO is the one it cannot afford to get wrong — yet succession is often left until it becomes urgent, emotionally charged, and harder than it ever needed to be.

So how do boards move from reacting to a sudden vacancy towards genuinely owning the process? When should the conversation start, who should lead it, and what separates a transition that compounds value from one that quietly destroys it?

Drawing on decades of advisory work, board service, and research at INSEAD, Prof. Stanislav Shekshnia shares the thinking behind his new book — a practical framework of 21 questions that helps chairs and directors structure their approach to succession from early preparation through to handover. We'll look at the distinct roles of the board, the chair, and the outgoing CEO, and at the human dynamics that so often decide the outcome.

Our conversation will be practical and draw on the insights of participants.

Professor Stanislav Shekshnia is Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD, an experienced board chair and director who has served on more than 20 boards across Europe, the USA, and emerging markets, and the author of 12 books and over 50 articles on leadership and corporate governance.

Stanislav Shekshnia is an academic, non-executive director and consultant. He is a Professor at INSEAD, where he directs Leading from the Chair, Aspiring Directors and Advanced Board development programs. His research concentrates on effective corporate governance and leadership. Shekshnia is the author, co-author, and editor of 11 books, including Leading a Board (2nd edition, 2021), CEO School (2018), Athletic CEOs (2018), and more than 50 articles. Since 2001 Professor Shekshnia has been an independent chair and director at a number of companies in France, The Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and USA.

In the last 25 years he has advised dozens of companies on CEO succession and has educated thousands of board members and executives on the subject.