70% of Succession Plans Fail Within Two Years: What Executive Support Really Means

1 Min. Read

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: succession plans fail not because they were poorly designed, but because no one fought for them to succeed. Roughly 70% of succession efforts fall apart within two years due to lack of executive support. That’s not a planning problem—it’s a leadership one.

The board may sign off. HR may coordinate. But unless the executive team owns and champions the process, it becomes another checkbox on a forgotten list.

Executive support means more than agreement. It means sponsorship. It means mentoring. It means embedding succession into business-as-usual, not treating it as an end-of-year task. Coaching plays a critical role here—turning identified successors into invested leaders, and ensuring executives are engaged in that development journey.

Succession isn’t a handoff. It’s a relay. And without strong runners before and after the baton is passed, you won’t finish the race.