What motivated me? Every board in the country says that one of its top responsibilities is succession planning. Yet, a high percentage of these same boards will openly admit that their own succession planning process falls short. That's a fairly serious and puzzling disconnect. But it doesn't stop there. Rarely in the history of Corporate America have we seen such onslaught of boards recruiting CEOs from outside their own corporate walls. In my opinion, this is nothing short of a total board-level governance meltdown. And as shareholders, we sit idly on the sidelines. How can boards of companies, in which we invest our hard earned dollars, let their company's internal talent pipelines run so dry? When key positions become vacant, why should companies be forced to look externally for talent? We all know it's a huge risk to bring in an outsider. Who knows if the new leader's style or even his skills will mesh with the underlying strategic needs and culture of the organization? Externally recruited CEOs fail at a much faster rate as internally groomed ones. Why then don't boards, as the stewards of our investment, spearhead, sponsor and monitor talent development and bench strength? And why don't they do all of this before key positions become vacant? Just seems like common sense to me. That's what spurred my research.

Every board in the country, top responsibilities, succession planning, high percentage of these same boards,own succession planning process falls short, fairly serious and puzzling disconnect, Rarely in the history of Corporate America, onslaught of boards recruiting CEOs, outside their own corporate walls, short of a total board-level governance meltdown, shareholders, we sit idly on the sidelines.