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Evaluate a new CEO against the firm’s agreed mandate, not against a generic checklist or the mere appearance of change. First establish the firm’s starting position and the CEO’s authority; then assess strategic choices, execution, governance, client continuity, talent and communication with evidence tied to that baseline.
What is the CEO expected to change?
Before judging decisions, write down what the firm hired the CEO to do. A transition may be intended to preserve the current direction, evolve it or correct a troubled course. These categories, used in Highwire’s 2026 CEO-transition communications framework, are useful prompts—not a universal classification system. A move that looks too cautious under a corrective mandate may be prudent under a continuity mandate.
Set the baseline and mandate
- Record the firm’s existing strategy, major commitments, financial and operating conditions, and significant unresolved risks.
- State which parts of the direction are expected to continue, which may change and what problems require attention.
- Clarify the CEO’s responsibilities and decision rights, including how authority is shared with the board, partners, regional or service-line leaders, and other governance bodies.
- Note whether the CEO role itself has changed. Spencer Stuart’s guidance on professional-services succession puts strategy and organization before defining the role and ideal leader profile, and recommends partnership input when the strategy has not been reviewed recently.
This matters in a large firm because a title alone does not establish control over every office, practice, partnership decision or investment. Assess the leader against the authority the role actually carries.
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How do you assess the CEO’s strategy?
Look for a coherent connection between the firm’s starting position, the pressures it faces and the choices the CEO makes. A strategy announcement is not evidence of sound judgment by itself; evaluate the choices, trade-offs and resource commitments that follow.
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Test the strategy against the firm’s operating model
- Matrix complexity: Does the plan account for the firm’s geographies and service lines, including where priorities or incentives may conflict?
- Ownership and alliances: Does it reflect the firm’s actual ownership and alliance structure and the limits or opportunities those arrangements create?
- Mergers and acquisitions: Where M&A is part of the plan, are the intended strategic benefits clear and connected to the firm’s capabilities?
- AI and service delivery: Does the CEO explain how automation or productization could change the firm’s services, delivery model and economics? Heidrick & Struggles identifies these shifts alongside the need to manage profitability, regulation, governance and ethics.
- Investment choices: Do people, technology and other operating decisions support the stated direction, or do they reveal competing priorities?
Judge these choices against the firm’s exposure and capabilities. An AI initiative or expansion announcement is not, on its own, proof that the firm has a viable plan.
What evidence shows whether the strategy is being executed?
Separate the quality of the plan from the quality of its execution. Document observable decisions and outcomes against the baseline and mandate. Where an outcome depends on conditions beyond the CEO’s control, record those conditions rather than attributing every change to the leader.
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| Evaluation area | Questions to answer | Evidence to document |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic coherence | Does the direction follow from the firm’s baseline, market conditions and agreed mandate? | Major choices, stated priorities and changes to previous commitments |
| Execution and resource alignment | Do investment, people and operating decisions reinforce the strategy? | Resource allocations, operating changes and progress on stated priorities |
| Leadership and governance | Does the CEO align the top team and work constructively with the board, partnership and relevant governance bodies? | Decision processes, leadership alignment and how disagreements are handled |
| Client and talent continuity | Are client confidence, service continuity, partner alignment and talent being managed? | Client relationship continuity, service disruptions, partner engagement and talent patterns |
| Risk, regulation and ethics | Does the strategy account for relevant obligations and risks? | How risks are identified, addressed and reflected in decisions |
| Communication | Do internal and external stakeholders receive a clear, consistent account of what is changing and why? | Consistency between messages, decisions and subsequent outcomes |
McKinsey’s CEO Excellence framework identifies aligning the organization, leading the top team, working with the board and representing the firm externally as CEO responsibilities. Use those areas to organize observations, not as a substitute for the firm-specific mandate.
How should you evaluate leadership in a partnership-based firm?
Professional-services firms depend heavily on expertise, client trust and reputation. Baker Tilly’s February 25, 2026, succession-planning guidance notes that client relationships may be closely associated with individual partners, while leadership decisions can affect ownership, compensation, voting rights and retirement economics. Those features make partner alignment and continuity central evidence—not side issues.
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Assess people and relationships
- Are important client relationships being supported through leadership changes, with service continuity maintained?
- Can partners understand how the strategy affects their practices and the firm’s shared priorities?
- Are governance decisions handled in ways that support alignment rather than leaving authority or expectations unclear?
- Is the firm retaining and developing the people needed to deliver its strategy?
- Does the CEO represent the firm credibly to clients and other external stakeholders?
Do not treat any single measure—such as a retention figure or a client response—as a complete verdict. Interpret it alongside the mandate, the firm’s starting conditions and other evidence.
How can leadership assessments help?
Structured assessments can add information about how a CEO leads, but they should complement evidence from the job. Heidrick & Struggles describes executive assessment, psychometrics and 360-degree feedback as possible tools; its guidance does not establish any one instrument as decisive.
- Use assessment results to identify patterns or questions for follow-up, not as a standalone rating.
- Compare feedback with observable conduct: how the CEO aligns leaders, handles board and partnership relationships, makes trade-offs and represents the firm.
- Consider who provided feedback, what part of the role they observed and whether their perspective covers the CEO’s actual responsibilities.
How should you evaluate transition communication?
Assess whether the CEO’s account of the transition matches its actual purpose and decisions. Highwire’s May 5, 2026, framework recommends tailoring communication to continuity, evolution or corrective change and aligning internal and external messages. It also describes presenting the outgoing leader’s legacy alongside the incoming CEO’s mandate.
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As Keri Toomey, Highwire’s EVP and Professional Services Sector Lead, put it: “In professional services, reputation and relationships are the business. A CEO transition puts both in the spotlight simultaneously. Done right, it’s a chance to deepen trust with every audience that matters, and to show the market exactly who you are and where you’re headed.” Treat this as a communications perspective, not evidence that a particular announcement or outcome will produce the same result elsewhere.
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How should you use succession-planning statistics?
Deloitte US’s December 2023 Board Practices Quarterly describes survey respondents from 102 public companies across varying sizes and industries. Among respondents, 34% of large-cap companies and 56% of mid-cap companies reported including candidate criteria in planned CEO succession plans. The report also says nearly half of respondents reported candidate criteria and/or development and readiness plans, with differences by market capitalization.
These figures describe succession-plan contents in a general public-company survey. They are not specific to professional-services firms and do not measure CEO effectiveness, so they are context for succession planning—not benchmarks for rating the new CEO.
What should a defensible evaluation conclude?
Keep a record that connects each judgment to the agreed mandate and supporting evidence. Distinguish strategic choices from execution, and both from conditions the CEO inherited or cannot control. Where the evidence is mixed or a result is not yet established, say so plainly rather than filling the gap with a universal threshold.
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The cited guidance offers practitioner frameworks, not a sector-wide, independently validated scorecard or a proven causal formula for CEO effectiveness. The useful output is therefore a firm-specific assessment: what the CEO was asked to do, what decisions and leadership behaviors are visible, what is changing, and how well those changes fit the firm’s needs.
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