If your chief executive officer resigned tonight, would the organisation become stronger tomorrow or confused by Monday morning?
A few years ago, I walked into a board retreat convinced I was about to help directors refine a brilliant strategy. Ten minutes later the room proved me wrong. The board had spent two hours debating office parking spaces, a new branch opening, and the colour of the company website. Succession planning had never appeared on the agenda. I quietly laughed at myself for expecting strategic conversation from a board that had mastered the art of discussing everything except the future.
This moment reminds many boards of the three-stone fireplace village children are often told. Cooking only works when all three stones hold the pot steady. Remove one stone and the pot collapses. In most organisations those three stones are strategy, leadership continuity, and governance discipline. Boards often guard the first stone, occasionally inspect the second, and almost forget the third.
The leadership continuity myth
During a governance review of a regional manufacturing company in Nairobi, the board proudly explained that their chief executive had served fifteen years and knew the organisation better than anyone else. That statement was meant as reassurance. I saw something else. The board had unknowingly outsourced the future of the company to a single individual.
When asked who would lead the company if the chief executive stepped aside tomorrow, the room became polite and quiet. One director suggested an external search. Another joked that the chief executive was still young. Yet not one director could name two internal successors ready within twelve months.
The irony is that strong boards elsewhere treat succession planning as a permanent discipline. When global technology companies face leadership transitions, boards already know three potential successors, their strengths, and the development gaps they must close. Leadership continuity becomes a strategic asset, not a crisis response.
The governance blind spot
Most directors believe succession planning is a human resources issue. I do not think so. It is a strategic duty. Boards that build competitive advantage do not merely supervise management; they ensure leadership continuity, so strategy survives leadership transitions. The future of governance lies in boards that engage deeply with leadership pipelines while resisting the temptation to manage daily operations.
Return to the three-stone fireplace. Strategy sets direction. Governance ensures discipline. Succession planning ensures the fire continues burning when one cook leaves the kitchen.
The boardroom reality check
I often use a simple tool during board training called the Leadership Continuity Test. Each director answers three questions on paper before discussion begins.
- If the chief executive leaves tomorrow morning, who leads immediately?
- Which two internal leaders could run the organisation within two years?
- What experiences must those leaders gain before they are ready?
During one telecom board session here in Kampala, the exercise exposed the board. Every director wrote a different name for question one. The board realised that while they believed they had oversight of the organisation, they had never tested their assumptions about leadership readiness.
That moment changed their governance priorities instantly.
The lesson from the three-stone fireplace
- The strongest organisations prepare for leadership transitions long before they become urgent. Weak boards hope stability lasts forever.
- Succession planning is not about replacing a leader. It is about protecting the strategy of the institution.
- Before your next board meeting, ask yourselves three uncomfortable questions.
If the chief executive resigned tomorrow, who leads the organisation on Monday morning?
Which leaders inside your organisation could become chief executive within two years?
And most importantly, are you governing the future of the organisation, or simply attending meetings while hoping the three-stone fireplace never loses a stone?
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