Helping Find Tomorrow’s Executives, Today

Smart Succession Planning is a Year-Round Job. M3 is Here to Help.

Every business, no matter the size or sector, will need to navigate a leadership change at
some point. 77% of middle-market businesses have gone through a major leadership or
ownership transition in the past five years or expect one in the next five, but only a third of
them have a written CEO succession plan in place. Among family- and privately-owned
businesses surveyed in 2025, 30% have no succession plan at all. Yet with CEO departures
hitting an eight-year high in 2025 and executive tenure dropping, organizations can no
longer afford to wait and hope to figure it out when a leader inevitably departs.
Knowing “who’s next” is one of the cornerstones of a robust talent strategy. Mid-market
businesses face myriad challenges when designing succession plans, including smaller
benches of internal leaders, intense competition for qualified external candidates, and the
lack of institutional experience finding, developing, and retaining executive talent. That’s
where talent advisory firms like M3 can help fill in the gaps, helping organizations to
identify, develop, and attract their next leader.
What Proactive Succession Planning Looks Like
If your leaders left today, who could step in to lead tomorrow? Whether your succession
event is a planned transitions or an unexpected departure, the primary goal in any
leadership transition is to minimize disruption to the organization. In today’s rapidly
changing business landscape, the cost of such disruptions can be steep. Proactive boards
can take steps now to strengthen their succession plans, including:

Preparing for a smooth transition. The first year of a new executive’s tenure is the
most crucial for their success. Knowing who internally will help guide this transition,
the role for the outgoing leader (if applicable), and the milestones and benchmarks
denoting success will help get everyone on the same page quickly.
Preparing for the Future Creates Strength in the Present
Good succession planning not only prevents chaos; it unlocks strategic benefits in the
here and now. High performers stay when they can see a path up. Asking “what will our
next leader need to do?” forces a sharper answer to “where are we going?” And a company
that can run itself effectively, even if its top executive were to step down unexpectedly, is
easier to sell, finance, and hand down.
Few growing companies have a talent team with enough executive leadership experience
to run this process, and few should build one for an event that happens every five to ten
years. This is where an experienced search partner earns its keep: helping define the role,
mapping the market before you need to access it, assessing internal candidates and
external options, and guiding a clean transition. If you don’t yet have an answer to the
question, “who’s next”, M3 is here to help you find your next world-class leader, together.

Establishing an emergency succession plan. This person should know that
they’ve been tapped as a potential interim leader, and prepared in advance with the
strategic context, business relationships, and skills necessary to hit the ground
running.

Assessing and developing promising internal candidates. Promoting from within
is often the best way to ensure both cultural and strategic continuity yet finding and
retaining these key employees requires time and care. Such prudence is also a
powerful retention tool – investing in talent and communicating long-term plans for
their growth helps keep them in-house.

Reviewing and revising desired skill profiles. If you were to look externally for a
new leader, what skills and experiences would be considered essential? In the case
of an unplanned executive search, establishing who you’re looking for in advance
can save valuable time and ensure your job post is uncovering the right candidates.
Having an outside talent strategist quietly scan the outside market can help stay
abreast of who is potentially available and what they cost in the event of a search.