What the SG Country Manager at Russell Reynolds Associates wants every board to know about future-proofing the C-suite

“How They See It” is where we delve into the minds of those shaping the future of today’s most dynamic companies. In this instalment, we speak with Euan Kenworthy, Singapore Country Manager at Russell Reynolds Associates. He offers a clear-eyed perspective on why effective succession planning is a boardroom imperative, how leadership decisions ripple across markets and legacies, and what it takes to future-proof organisations in an age of relentless change.

“When people ask what we do at Russell Reynolds Associates, I often start with a line that feels deceptively simple: we improve the way the world is led. It’s a statement of purpose, but also a quiet provocation. Because the question it implies is one we don’t ask often enough — what does it actually mean to lead well.

In today’s climate, the answer is shifting. Leadership used to mean expertise, control, certainty. Now, it demands resilience, discernment, and the ability to hold long-term vision in one hand and short-term pressure in the other. That shift has profound implications — not just for individuals at the top, but for the systems that support them.

At Russell Reynolds, we advise organisations at moments when leadership becomes a question of consequence. For some, it’s during a carefully timed CEO transition. For others, it’s in the wake of a founder stepping back, or a family enterprise wrestling with generational change. Increasingly, it’s a call that comes in the middle of turbulence — market shocks, geopolitical risk, changing stakeholder demands. The work we do is to bring clarity to those moments. And more importantly, to prepare leaders before those moments arrive.

Last year, global CEO turnover hit a record high. It didn’t surprise us. Volatility has become structural, not cyclical. But it did affirm what we’ve seen on the ground for years — that far too many organisations are unprepared for change at the top. Boards often operate under the assumption that continuity will take care of itself. But succession, when left to chance, tends to become a scramble.

We advocate for the opposite. Succession should never be an emergency response. It should be a strategic discipline — deliberate, methodical, and embedded into the rhythm of leadership itself. When a new CEO is appointed, the succession plan for their eventual successor should quietly begin. This isn’t about replacing people — it’s about future-proofing institutions.

A well-executed succession strategy considers more than performance. It looks at potential. It identifies multiple internal candidates who could step up, and invests in their development early. It involves benchmarking against best-in-class external talent. And critically, it requires Boards to interrogate what leadership will mean in the next chapter of the organisation’s story — not just replicate what worked in the last.

This kind of thinking is especially important in family enterprises. Here in Singapore and across the region, we’ve seen generational transitions that either cement a legacy — or fracture it. The tension is real: between tradition and transformation, between loyalty to history and responsiveness to market demands. Our work with family-led businesses is some of the most delicate, and the most rewarding. We help founders let go without disappearing, and we help successors lead without having to disown what came before.

These conversations aren’t only about people — they’re about identity. Each generation interprets legacy differently. Our role is to preserve the integrity of that legacy while making space for evolution. Sometimes that means coaching a third-generation heir to step into their own leadership voice. Sometimes it means guiding the appointment of a professional CEO from outside the family, while ensuring cohesion across all stakeholders. Every move has implications beyond the balance sheet.

To ground these decisions in something more than instinct, we developed the Leadership Portrait. It’s a model built from proprietary research that evaluates both an executive’s current readiness and their capacity for future growth. Using behavioural science, psychometric insights, and contextual analysis, we move leadership decisions away from gut feel and toward informed, strategic judgment.

In practice, this means helping Boards see around corners. It means understanding not just who someone is, but how they might evolve in the role — and how that trajectory aligns with where the organisation needs to go.
Success, to me, doesn’t have one shape. Sometimes it’s visible: a new CEO who delivers results and strengthens culture. Sometimes it’s subtler: a Board that, for the first time, approaches succession with rigour instead of ritual. Sometimes it’s personal — seeing a colleague within our firm stretch into a leadership role they didn’t previously believe was possible. That, too, is succession. That, too, is legacy.

Inside our own firm, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we build our future from within. We have an extraordinary group of Partners and colleagues, each with their own strengths, motivations, and growth curve. My job, in part, is to ensure that each of them has the conditions to thrive. That includes mentorship, feedback, stretch opportunities, and space to fail safely. The future of our firm is in the people we develop today.

There are, of course, persistent barriers. Many Boards still default to conservative criteria when evaluating CEO candidates. They favour familiarity over imagination. This limits not only the diversity of leadership, but its adaptability. Leadership in 2030 won’t resemble leadership in 2010. The problems are different. So must be the people we entrust to solve them.

We also believe that the power of data in leadership decisions remains underleveraged. In our work, behavioural data allows us to detect misalignments before they become failures, to shape high-performing teams, and to manage risk with precision. A wider embrace of data-backed leadership strategy would elevate decision-making across sectors.
Still, I’m deeply optimistic. Our younger colleagues at Russell Reynolds bring a clarity of intent and an urgency to do meaningful work that gives me great confidence. They are not afraid of complexity. They are fluent in ambiguity. And they are values-led in a way that is increasingly non-negotiable.

Singapore, too, remains a source of optimism. As it marks sixty years of independence, it continues to serve as a model for what intentional leadership can achieve — economic ambition balanced by a strong social contract, forward-looking governance shaped by continuity and renewal.

The pressures on leaders today are high. But that should prompt us not to narrow the aperture, but to widen it. The solution to uncertainty is not to retreat into what we know. It’s to invest earlier, think longer, and lead with conviction.
The most important decisions, I believe, are made long before the spotlight hits. And when the world starts watching, the best leaders are already ready.”