Everything was on track for Jack to take over as CEO. He had met all the relevant board members. He had spent 50 hours eyeball to eyeball with the outgoing CEO. They had all agreed all the terms of Jack's transition and of the outgoing CEO's transition into the chairmanship role. Jack had even met with the public relations agency to get the wording and timing of the public announcement right.
And then the outgoing CEO decided to stay. Jack was justifiably upset – and relieved. If the outgoing CEO had not realized what he really wanted to do before Jack joined up, he would have realized it shortly thereafter. As painful as it was for Jack to go through all the steps and get left at the altar, it would have been far more painful and disruptive to have had to unwind the actual relationship.
Some think there is a risk in taking the time to make sure expectations are aligned before finalizing the offer/acceptance. They think someone might back out at the last second. True. In general, though, someone that backs out at the last second would have ended up reversing themselves later. Our advice is to push the edges of this during due diligence – both ways – and back out if necessary. It's the better option.
George Bradt – PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding and Transition Acceleration
