Pharma CEO Succession: Commit to a single candidate five years out, or keep a candidate slate and converge gradually using strategy, board, and readiness gates?

Minerva judgment

Recommendation: retain the candidate slate and converge gradually through strategy, readiness, and governance gates, as this preserves adjustability over the five-year uncertain horizon while balancing fairness and retention (F1, F2, F3, F6)

Decision owner in the teaching simulationChair of the Board CEO Succession Committee, in an independent instructional simulation

Human-controlled next action

Action: the succession committee leads development of a concrete governance-gate design proposal for the candidate slate (confidentiality, fairness, conflicts of interest, reversal thresholds) before the next board meeting

What would reverse the recommendation

Reversal condition: if evidence shows the incumbent CEO's or board's preferences (F5) have substantively driven candidate screening, rendering the slate mechanism nominal, switch to a more transparent single-path approach or restructure governance

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Official public source

ghSMART · CEO and C-suite Succession

Evidence and endorsement boundary：Independent teaching simulation. The named consulting firm supplied the public source only; it did not use, review, endorse, sponsor, certify or commission Minerva Advisor. This evidence does not claim customer results, ROI or a permanent service-level guarantee.

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