I’ve sat in more boardrooms than I can count, and one thing that keeps me scratching my head in disbelief is that everyone’s still looking for their unicorn. The charismatic CEO. The big name who can “turn it all around.” You’d think, by now, we’d have learned that betting the future of an organisation on one person is a fragile kind of hope.

The allure is easy to understand. One dynamic leader can change the story overnight. They galvanise markets, they reassure investors, they give the board something to point to and say, “We’ve got our person.” The problem is what happens next. Once the narrative hardens around one individual, everything else starts orbiting them: strategy, culture, confidence. It looks like strength, when really, it’s a concentration risk.

Have you built strength or dependency?

Most corporate meltdowns start with leadership vacuums. I’ve witnessed how organisations crumble the moment their “hero” leaves, or fails to repeat past magic. Suddenly, no one knows what the plan is without them. 

And why? Because they never bothered to bolster their succession pipeline. Because they built everything around one voice instead of building collective capability. Because they let the executive team orbit rather than lead. It happens all too often. 

Not being mindful of this is reckless, and a sure-fire way to sabotage future growth. So I want you to look at your executive team today and ask yourself: Have we built genuine leadership, or have we just built dependency?

The myth-making machine

I still see boards fuelling the “Superstar CEO” myth. Many search mandates read like they’re casting for a blockbuster: “transformational,” “dynamic”, “game-changing.” The problem with those adjectives is you end up hiring for aura rather than architecture.

There’s a parallel here with another world: haute cuisine. Diners always worship the genius chef – the name above the door who supposedly crafted every dish. The reality, of course, is a brigade of line cooks, sous chefs and pastry leads working in synchrony to deliver consistency night after night. 

Now think about what would happen if the Head Chef were suddenly hit by a bus. Would Restaurant Gordon Ramsay close its doors? Would The Ritz start serving customers swill? No – not because the Head Chef wasn’t vital, but because there’s a whole battalion behind them who can keep up the rhythm, safeguard the quality, and ensure the kitchen doesn’t flinch.

The same logic applies to the boardroom. Great leadership isn’t a solo performance. It’s a system that runs on trust, shared tempo and the mastery of people who know their role and anticipate each other’s moves.

What I see the best companies doing

The strongest organisations I’ve worked with talk about succession as a matter of discipline. They build leadership depth the way compound interest builds wealth: small, consistent investments that create exponential resilience over time.

When you ask them about succession, they don’t give you one name. They talk about capability, bench strength, readiness. Their C-suite operates like a living organism, with people stretching into new territory, rotating across functions, picking up responsibility without drama. When the CEO moves on, the strategy doesn’t wobble because it never belonged to one person in the first place.

Then there are the others, the ones who still act like they’re buying a lottery ticket. I can usually tell within minutes which camp a board falls into. Ask how they’d handle the sudden loss of their CEO, and they hesitate. Ask how often they review their top-team dynamics, and the answer is awkward silence. You can almost hear the realisation land.

The best companies engineer continuity by designing systems that flex, even if one person steps off the podium. Those boards understand that leadership is a relay, not a sprint, and that the baton matters more than the runner.

From “find me the next star” to “build me the next era”

I’ve been doing this a long time, and the pattern doesn’t lie. Charisma might win headlines and short-term wins, but collective capability wins decades. The next phase of organisational strength won’t come from the cult of personality, but from leadership systems built to outlast any one individual.

Hanover has helped boards design those systems for over thirty years, embedding the depth and resilience that doesn’t vanish when a signature changes. If you’re not sure your strategy will hold shape if your CEO suddenly departs, we should talk.