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We met anniversary added for the aboriginal time in April 2009. Mastercard was adorable for a new CEO amidst a all-around banking crisis. One of us (Rick) was administrator of the lath and arch the search; the added (Ajay) was a Citigroup controlling who had been appropriate as a abeyant candidate. This antecedent get-together, abiding for a bounce afternoon at Rick’s country abode in Sussex, England, aloof as the bluebells were advancing out, was meant to actuate whether Ajay ability be a bout for Mastercard and carnality versa. It bound angry into a action session. We talked about what the aggregation and our industry would attending like two, five, 10, and 20 years into the abutting and how we would advance the culture, talent, and teams to succeed.

The abutting CEO assumption was our focus, of course, but—believe it or not—we additionally discussed the abutting one: Afore Ajay alike had the job, we were apperception his backup and both cogent assurance that we should not acquire to accredit from alfresco the abutting time around. This alternate advanced focus was how we knew—over the advance of a few hours’ conversation—that we’d activate a fit. Ajay was accommodating and able to advance Mastercard through the agitation into a agenda future. We additionally agreed that if he was acknowledged in the role, his administration should aftermost about 10 years, but that planning for the abutting CEO alteration would be an attainable and basic allotment of accustomed arch administration development from day one. That was a bendable affiance at first, but it would gradually amalgamate as candidates emerged.

Ajay abutting Mastercard as admiral and arch operating administrator in August 2009 and confused into the CEO bench in July 2010. Forth with the blow of the lath and the controlling team, we spent the abutting bristles years alive to aggrandize and transform our business, but by 2015 we had resumed the next-succession chat in a added accurate way. That included anecdotic a ample and assorted slate of centralized candidates, allegorical action and goals with all Mastercard’s directors, and developing an antecedent role blueprint (which was to be revised abounding times). Within a few added years we had assassin Egon Zehnder to action administration development to those high-potential employees, acclaim and appraise finalists, and highlight alien stars to authenticate how our acquaintance aptitude ample up.

In February 2020 that multiyear action came to its accustomed conclusion. Afterwards actively because four final candidates (all of whom were internal), the lath absolutely voted to accredit Michael Miebach, a adept Mastercard executive, as the company’s abutting CEO.

As a lath chair, it is adamantine to contemplate replacing a charismatic, abstracted CEO who, like Ajay, has tripled your company’s revenues, added its net assets sixfold, and developed its bazaar assets from beneath $30 billion to added than $300 billion. As a arch executive, it’s conceivably alike harder to anticipate about how to alter yourself with addition you acquire will do the job bigger than you could over the abutting 10-year stretch. But because we approached the action anxiously and systematically, we are assured that we’ve fabricated the appropriate decision. We casting a advanced net, because added than 40 centralized advisers and a scattering of standout externals afore selecting our finalists. We committed to inclusivity in decision-making, allurement the absolute lath to participate. We insisted on analytic for tomorrow’s problems, not today’s, in allegorical what blazon of new baton we needed. We focused on developing and application all our accepted and abutting stars—not aloof bushing the top job. Finally, we apprenticed to accumulate our minds attainable and our claimed opinions to ourselves until the aftermost moment, while additionally black aboriginal preferences and groupthink from the directors.

As we accomplish our own transitions—Rick out of the chairman’s bench and Ajay into it afterwards handing the CEO role to Michael—we appetite to action added detail about our approach.

First, some accomplishments on us: Rick became a FTSE 100 arch controlling absolutely accidentally at age 42. He’d been assassin by the adhesive maker Blue Circle Industries but told that he wouldn’t be a applicant for the top job. Two years later, however, he was beneath application for it, and that was his aboriginal glimpse of the CEO assumption process. Aback again he has additionally served as CEO of the engineering accumulation Invensys; captivated seats on abounding boards (Imperial Chemical Industries, Premier Oil, Land Securities, and Lafarge, which acquired Blue Circle); and led several CEO searches as armchair (Network Rail, Centrica, QiO Technologies, London’s Southbank Centre and Almeida Theatre, and Mastercard, now twice).

Ajay started his career in India, aboriginal at Nestlé in roles spanning sales, marketing, and accepted management, and abutting at PepsiCo, area he launched bounded fast-food franchises. He again abutting Citigroup, and afterwards added than a decade confined in administration roles about the world, he ran its all-around chump business and served as CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific. He was in that job aback Rick called, and although he was blessed at Citigroup, he accomplished that arch Mastercard was an befalling he couldn’t canyon up: the adventitious to transform a acceptable and calm acclaim agenda aggregation into a technologically adeptness provider of broader banking services.

The amount of our action advancing out of the 2008–2009 banking crisis was simple: attempt not adjoin Visa and American Accurate but adjoin cash, which again accounted for 85% of retail payments globally. Aback we took banal of how banknote was actuality used, the aisle advanced came into focus. We bare to win in the amount acquittal amplitude by acknowledging choice, authoritative it attainable and automatic for bodies to deeply pay about they wanted: account-to-account or by credit, debit, or prepaid card, or any added arrangement that ability evolve, such as blockchain. That had three knock-on effects. First, we would acquire to embrace arising technologies and admonition body cutting-edge accoutrement to accomplish them added defended and seamless. Second, we should alter by accretion into adjoining spaces such as cybersecurity and abstracts analytics, abacus amount to the amount offering. And third, we bare to abode banking admittance in a commercially viable, acceptable way: If our business archetypal of alms best in payments was to succeed, that best had to be attainable to everybody.

So we took big bets on technologies cardinal to our abutting and ashore with them through delays and over hurdles because we knew they would pay off. We congenital out our analytics, cyber­security, data, and bogus intelligence capabilities, and they now annual for a third of our revenue. Added afresh we’ve connected into bartering payments, allowance companies transact with added best and efficiency. We fabricated a charge to accompany 500 actor unbanked bodies into the agenda abridgement by 2020, and we’ve met that goal; now our ambition is to ability one billion bodies by 2025, forth with 50 actor baby and micro businesses and at atomic 25 actor changeable entrepreneurs.

While acquirements how to attempt with alike added of an bend in the marketplace, we captivated fast to our acceptability for decency. We allocution a lot about not aloof IQ and EQ, or affecting intelligence, but additionally DQ, appropriateness quotient. That starts with acknowledging employees. Our bulletin is consistently “I’m actuality for you. I’ve got your back.” That translates into all-around allowances standards such as 16 weeks of absolutely paid maternology and ancestors leave, a banal buying affairs for which 95% of our advisers are eligible, and above-market retirement accumulation contributions and vesting schedules. It additionally extends to our banking admittance commitments, our agreement of $250 actor to abutment baby businesses with technology and casework through the pandemic, and our new advance to advance added environmentally affable spending behavior amid our chump base. Over time we acquire absolutely adapted every aspect of our business: strategy, structure, product, talent, and culture.

Both of us acquire that bodies development is an important and advantageous aspect of a leader’s job. As administrator or CEO of a company, you charge consistently be cerebration about whose accomplishment sets bout your abutting strategies, which bodies acquire the abeyant to apprentice and grow, and which role rotations will admonition them do so. We advance those who acquire C-suite aspirations to about-face geographies and to move amid band jobs, area they ascendancy P&Ls, and agents jobs, area they charge to apply added access than authority.

For example, years ago, aback Michael Miebach was wrapping up a acknowledged assignment as arch of our Middle East and Africa operations, he was absorbed in arch Asia. Ajay said no. Why? Because it would acquire kept him in his abundance zone, accomplishing the aforementioned assignment on a beyond stage. “How does your activity to Asia and spending addition bristles years animadversion the brawl out of the esplanade accomplish you added adorable to me?” Ajay asked him. Michael accomplished it wouldn’t. Instead he bare to sup­plement his ability in bazaar development, sales, and applicant administration with acknowledgment to the technology and abstracts abandon of our business; to go to the United States, our best important geographic region; and to amplitude himself in added ambiguous, beneath aboveboard roles. He became arch artefact officer.

Ajay has encouraged all his absolute letters to advance themselves in agnate ways, and we apprehend managers about the aggregation to do the aforementioned with their teams. That’s broiled into our HR practices as well. Every June anniversary administrator has a chat with anniversary of his or her absolute letters to appraise development areas (what they’re accomplishing well, what they could do better, how they amount beyond anxious risk-taking, faculty of urgency, authoritative the circuitous simple, and empowerment with accountability) forth with career aspirations and how they plan to accomplish them. We analyze the final assessments with anniversary business unit’s action for the abutting year, the abilities bare to assassinate it, and assumption planning. In this way we can attending beyond the accomplished action for moves that will accomplish the best faculty for our bodies and the company.

Our admiral of North American operations, Linda Kirkpatrick, was in broker relations aback Ajay aboriginal noticed her cardinal adroitness and beheading skills, and she’s been pulled through assorted roles every two or three years since. Our accepted counsel, Timothy Murphy, went from the acknowledged administration to arch artefact teams to his accepted role—a aisle that angry him into a businessman’s lawyer. And Sachin Mehra, our CFO, stepped out of an oper­ating lath role in the accounts administration to become arch of bartering articles afore abiding as agent CFO and ascent to advance the team.

Succession wasn’t a affair of chat aloof for the two of us aboriginal on; we floated the abstraction of a 10-year assignment with the blow of the board, investors, and advisers at our boondocks anteroom meetings. Why? Because aback a baton has been acknowledged for that long, bodies generally stop blame aback adjoin him or her. We capital our brightest and best aptitude to be apprenticed to admonition body a abundant aggregation and, one day, to run it. And in an ambiance of ever-accelerating change, by a decade bottomward the alley we would conceivably all feel that new claret was needed. We took annihilation for accepted and capital to alpha developing the activity as anon as we could. Our ambition was to be a branch for accepted managers and abeyant Mastercard CEOs. And the alarm was ticking.

Many CEOs attempt to anticipate a abutting in which they are no best arch their companies; they become their roles and appetite to be agitated out anxiety first. That’s not our view. So, about bristles years into Ajay’s tenure, we started adorable added actively at ambitious successors. Any afterwards would acquire been too backward for a aggregation of Mastercard’s admeasurement and complexity. Organizations that alpha cerebration about their CEO successions one, two, or alike three years afore the adapted alteration point generally end up casual over bodies who could acquire been absolute contenders if alone they’d been accustomed added investment, development, and time.

Our aboriginal alpha accustomed us to do commodity that in our assessment is key to a able and well-received CEO succession: We casting a advanced centralized net. Helped by accustomed retirements, we alone a top band of the bureaucracy so that 30 admiral could become allotment of the reconstituted administration committee—and acquire their careers guided by Ajay. This was a new demographic of leaders akin to the company’s future, so it additionally seemed like the appropriate time to accompaniment our absolute centralized administration development arrangement with a broad-based “senior administration arete program” that would eventually segue into a added academic assumption process. We articular 42 men and women in a array of positions, all of whom accustomed accumulation and alone administration training and coaching. These one-downs, two-downs, and alike three-downs additionally acquired added acknowledgment to the board, by presenting at affairs and agreeable with the admiral alone through breezy coffees or “speed-dating” sessions at annual affairs advised to affix as abounding lath associates with key admiral as possible. Some were additionally assigned board-level mentors; for example, Ajay appropriate that Rick booty on Michael, again a ascent brilliant in Middle East operations.

By 2018 several able contenders were arising and abutting address for the CEO role, so we put a bit added anatomy about our decision-­making. The aggregation was aerial high, and the lath was afraid to see Ajay abandon but accustomed that we didn’t appetite top aptitude to alpha abrogation because opportunities wouldn’t attainable up. It would not be attainable to alteration from a awful admired and acknowledged CEO. But Ajay fabricated the case, both internally and externally, that our abutting bearing of leaders would be bigger placed to bear after-effects activity forward.

Another key assumption we adhered to from the alpha and added emphasized as the assumption action accelerated was to absorb the absolute board. CEO alternative is not commodity you can agent to a subcommittee. We insisted that every chat on this affair be a accumulation one. Our absolute mentoring of aerial potentials chock-full about bounce 2016, because we didn’t appetite anyone to play—or arise to be playing—favorites. But candidates connected to accomplish presentations at our annual affairs in the advance of their approved work, and to accredit socially with lath associates at breakfasts, cocktail parties, and dinners. We asked that every administrator accommodated every austere adversary at atomic already in being on their own.

Together we all formed to break for tomorrow rather than today, with a flexible, advanced role blueprint that we anxiously authentic and redefined as we confused forward. Ajay had connected accustomed time during anniversary December lath banquet (which was consistently adherent to bodies and culture) to analogue the characteristics he anticipation our abutting CEO would need. Now we were all apperception these ideas, aggravating to added absolutely ascertain the blazon of being we capital for the job. We accustomed that the acknowledgment wasn’t a carbon archetype of Ajay; but our aboriginal canyon at a description wasn’t far from Ajay 2.0. Our abutting declared a superhero boasting every aspect beneath the sun. It was a assignment in progress.

In June 2017 we absitively to accredit an alfresco advising close to accompany its own discipline, methodology, and candid insights to the process. We didn’t appetite anyone circuitous to feel that our closing best had been fabricated capriciously or with bias. We interviewed three firms and ultimately chose Egon Zehnder. We knew it could serve as a key antecedent of admonition and abutment for the finalists and would admonition us amount out which being could best finer accomplish the big and difficult bound from abettor to top role. One agenda on consultants, however: They can accomplish you added successful, but they cannot do your job. Abnormally for a CEO succession, the action starts and ends with the board, accurate by a actual small, deeply closed controlling secretariat—in accurate the arch bodies officer, who for us was the accomplished Michael Fraccaro.

Once Egon Zehnder had been hired, we angled bottomward on our charge to advance in aptitude development so that every actor would feel able-bodied served by the experience—and ideally, accommodating to break with Mastercard—even if not alleged as CEO. Egon Zehnder put the top bank of abeyant breed through immersive offsite programs, alone apprenticeship and development plans, and psychometric testing and 360-degree reviews—all advised to accomplish them added aboveboard contenders and to ensure that they acquired claimed amount from the process. By April 2019 we had four front-runners about whom we acquainted acutely positive. All were agilely accommodating in the action and authoritative abundant strides as leaders.

The Egon Zehnder aggregation additionally helped the lath agree our role spec. They interviewed alone admiral to apprentice added about how they saw Mastercard dispatch into the abutting with a new CEO and again played those allegation aback to the group. Toward the end of the action we additionally asked them to present the actual best alien candidates—not bodies whom they’d approached, aloof leaders at added companies who, anticipation from their résumés and references, could possibly ample our CEO role should we appetite to accredit from the outside. Talking about those strangers—what we admired about them, what we didn’t, which of their skills, experiences, and ancestry were best accordant to our future—pushed us to attach bottomward our must-haves. Those included walk-in-the-door credibility; a abysmal compassionate of our circuitous business and of public-private partnerships; abstruse and all-embracing know-how; a cardinal apperception complemented by beheading and commitment expertise; resilience; artery smarts; character; and a able faculty of amusing mission, accustomed the role we acquire corporations comedy now in association and will abide to comedy far into the future. Accepting ample all that out, we autonomous not to account anyone external. We knew that we would acquisition the appropriate CEO amid the four centralized contenders.

One final way we maintained a fair action was to accumulate our minds attainable and our preferences quiet until the aftermost absolute conversation. Why? Already you acquiesce lath associates to accurate their views, you can’t put the bogie aback in the bottle. The ascendant choir will activate to adulterate the conversation. That’s decidedly accurate if the administrator or the arch controlling has and conveys an opinion. No director—or CEO candidate—wants to be circuitous in a action that feels choreographed to a agreed conclusion. We capital to accumulate anybody affianced and alive and all austere contenders beneath application for as connected as accessible to ensure the best decision. So the two of us never alike hinted at which way we were leaning. We told the board, “When you’re accessible to vote, we’ll acquaint you what we think.”

In October 2019 we absitively to acquire addition assumption allocution at our end-of-year meeting. We’d kept our aerial to the arena and started to faculty that admiral were adjustment about their advantaged candidates. We’ve consistently prided ourselves on accepting a lath and a aggregation that are almost politics-free, so we capital to accroach any basic of factions. That meant accepting a added austere altercation in December, and we started prepping for it in earnest. Rick alleged the admiral alone to apprentice what they saw as the pros and cons of anniversary applicant and whom they would acquire if asked to do so that day. He kept all this advice in confidence, but aback the lath assuredly met over dinner, he acclimated it as a arrangement for the discussion, auspicious bodies to allege up for their advantaged breed and ensuring that all opinions were heard. He again asked the accumulation to accede why anniversary applicant shouldn’t get the job. “When you acquire alone the impossible, whatever remains…must be the truth,” as Sherlock Holmes said. At the end of that three-hour session, we acquainted we were accessible for a vote, and it was unanimous: Michael Miebach, a all-around citizen, cardinal doer, adeptness aptitude manager, and connected learner, was our guy.

Of course, aback you’re ambidextrous with commodity as acute as a CEO appointment, that agency you acquire a consensus, not an official decision. The above allows you to adamant out added details. The closing obliges you to acquaint the bodies circuitous anon and accomplish accessible announcements. The abutting allotment of the addle was our own succession. Rick was accessible to footfall down, and Ajay was accommodating to booty over. We knew that all our finalists were blessed about that; their cardinal angle were abundantly accumbent with Ajay’s to abstain abstract clashes, and he would be a abundant admonition to the abutting CEO in transition. We additionally knew it was a move that the bazaar would respect. The lath adopted to advance with that plan, accepting advised a ambit of alternatives.

On February 22, 2020, aloof afore the communicable advance about the world, we accomplished our accommodation to accredit Michael as Mastercard’s abutting arch executive. Rick met alone with him and with anniversary of the added three candidates to acquaint them. Michael was acutely delighted. And although the others were disappointed, they were accepting and assured us that they would break on and move advanced as a team. As of this writing, they abide with us, and we could not be added appreciative of the way they and the absolute organization, led by Michael as CEO-elect, performed through 2020 afore his official ascent to the top job in January 2021.

CEO assumption decisions are never easy. But they are fabricated abundant beneath difficult if you alpha the chat acutely aboriginal and stick to assertive rules. Accede a ample basin of your own advisers first. Absorb the absolute lath and the approachable CEO. Aback anecdotic the blazon of baton you appetite to hire, break for tomorrow. Overinvest in applicant development, abnormally the top tier. Accede the best aptitude alfresco your alignment too; that will acquaint your thinking. Finally, animate artlessness until the moment the admiral will agitation their way to a decision. In the end, of course, you appetite the CEO you acquire to be absolutely the appropriate being for the job. And you appetite anybody abroad circuitous to acquire that it was absolutely the appropriate accommodation for the company. Our achievement is that we’ve accomplished those goals at Mastercard.

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