Historically, it's been rare to have an external CEO appointment. It pays off when incoming CEOs who are promoted internally have been at the company for an established amount of time, have relationships with their colleagues at the company already, and understand the day-to-day operations from a firsthand perspective.
Executive search company Heidrick & Struggles released data at the end of 2023 examining the new appointment of CEOs throughout the year in some of the world's largest markets. Within major companies in the United States, the findings show 79% of the new CEO appointments internal appointments, while only 17% came externally.
