Our research looks at the phases of a CEO’s life span and their unique challenges in relation to each phase but in particular to succession planning: What are the particular difficulties in letting go? What really counts in an executive’s life, and What happens when leaders’ outstay their time?
"For many executives walking away can be the hardest part of the job"
As a leader you need to focus on your successors early in the game. Doing so will not only underpin the long-term sustainability of your enterprise, it may give you a shot at immortality.
INSEAD Knowledge, Sep 2016
Blogs
"How would you like to be remembered?"
INSEAD Knowledge, Sep 2016
Blogs
"Aging and quality of life"
This working paper deals with a rather taboo subject: the consequences of prolonging life into extreme old age, now possible with advances in medical procedures.
INSEAD Working Paper, Apr 2015
Working Papers
"Death anxiety and executive mortality"
This blog entry with the Harvard Business Review explores the death anxiety and what happens when we repress our fear of death and refuse to confront it.
Harvard Business Review, Mar 2014
Blogs
"Succession & when it's time to let go"
This blog entry with the Harvard Business Review discusses the three phases of a CEO's lifespan and what happens when leaders outstay their time and performance starts to decline.
Harvard Business Review, Mar 2014
Blogs
"The destabilizing effect of CEO retirement"
This blog entry with the Harvard Business Review he discusses the darker side of retirement.
Harvard Business Review, Feb 2014
Blogs
Manfred Kets de Vries takes readers out of their comfort zone in this book. It intends to focus executives on what really counts in their lives and to shake academics down from their ivory towers and make them more attuned to the real problems of real people, instead of trying to impress each other.
Palgrave Macmillan, Apr 2009
Books
"Psycho- dynamic factors & succession in Russia"
This article examines some general psychodynamic factors that influence the succession process in Russian businesses.
Organizational Dynamics, Jul 2008
Articles
"The retirement syndrome & challenges of letting go"
This article analyses a problem that can be described as the retirement syndrome. In exploring the difficulties many leaders face in letting go at the end of a full career, reviews a number of the barriers to exit and provides suggestions as to how individuals and organisations can develop more effective and humane disengagement strategies.
European Management Journal, Dec 2003
Articles
"What are the underlying dynamics of succession?"
This article explores the underlying dynamics of succession.
Harvard Business Review, Jan 1988
Articles
