How to Choose a New CEO
What goes into the hiring process for the top seat?
Choosing the next CEO is a high-stakes proposition, arguably the most important decision a company and its board will make. Perhaps no single decision will have a greater impact on a company’s future.
In my experience, as both a Chief People Officer for more than 20 years and a current Board member, a good amount of time is spent up front just to understand the capabilities that are needed in the next CEO. Taking a company to the next level involves challenges like streamlining operations, lowering costs, and managing an increasing number of products, services, functions, geographies, and customers. It also requires ensuring that you have the right people in the right seats doing the right things – and often the skills and capabilities needed as you scale are beyond those required in the earliest stages of a startup. Thus, you want a CEO with a wide network and the ability to set a vision and attract top talent.
There are far too many infamous stories about poor choices in the CEO role, with notable leaders lasting from less than 100 days to under 2 years. Some household brand names like Toys R Us and Coca-Cola, Humana and Waste Management, and more recently, Stitch Fix and even Disney, have experienced premature CEO churn after installing a new CEO. This quick turn puts the entire organization through the spin cycle, from which it can take months, if not years, to recover. It works so much better if you get it right the first time, but that means focusing not only on a potential CEO’s track record but also on their soft skills.
At Stash, we partnered with a search firm that knew people who had been there and done that AND wanted to do it again—they ensured our candidates had the right know-how and experience. Then, it was our job to evaluate both their technical and their soft skills.
Stash has a people-first culture with a strong commitment to a diverse workforce, so we made sure we saw a wide range of candidates from underrepresented demographics. Over time, we homed in on a ranking of the capabilities and personality traits we most desired and we went through rounds of interviews to determine the best fit for the role and our culture.
We are very happy to have landed our new CEO, Liza Landsman, who the board and the team agreed had just the right mix of product experience and leadership to make her an excellent fit for our culture. We also appreciated her vision that Stash could be the answer to financial freedom for so many customers who need it. Liza also happens to be a female leader in fintech, where women represent less than 6% of those in the top job. Our continued and unwavering focus on diversity, which was shared by Stash’s leaders and board, led us to a great outcome.
From start to finish (posting the role to start date) it took almost 10 months, but the arduous work of succession has definitely only just begun now that we’re at her official start date. Once again, please join me in welcoming Liza to the Stash ecosystem. We look forward to the journey ahead.
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