Pub. 9 2020 Issue 2

The CommunityBanker 12 F E A T U R E Succession in a COVID-19 World By Alan J. Kaplan, Founder & CEO, Kaplan Partners T he global pandemic has struck terror into the hearts of nearly everyone. Business leaders and board members are reeling from the rapid impact on their organizations, across public companies, small busi- nesses, nonprofit organizations and more. Everyone has been affected. One of the less-discussed impacts, which is shaking boardrooms and executive suites, is the issue of leader- ship succession. Deciding who leads is a board’s most critical responsibility. While proactive succession plan- ning has long been a best practice, too many institutions still do not emphasize leadership succession seriously enough or review their plans often enough. And now, with the scourge of COVID-19 upon us organizations and boards are quickly taking a long, hard look at the quality and quantity of their succession plans. One only needs to review the headlines to know that the issue of succession reared its ugly head due to COVID-19. The CEOs of Altria, Morgan Stanley, British Telecom and Madison Square Garden all confirmed that they had been infected. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was infected. Sadly, Jeffries & Co. CFO Peg Broadbent died from his Coronavirus infection. Even before COVID-19, consider that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon returned to work earlier this spring from a monthlong absence, after emergency surgery for a major heart condition. Succession is always a serious matter, and never more so than in 2020 when a random and unseen enemy could impact anyone at any time. What is a board or incumbent leader to do, particularly in more entrepreneurial organizations without a deep bench of talent? Here are a few key strategies: • Designate an emergency successor immediately. There should always be someone appointed to keep the train on