As we reach the natural pause that the month of December brings, let’s look back at what has really shaped the market in 2025. One theme stands out more clearly than anything else. Leaders across the recruitment sector have finally started moving away from last minute replacements and towards genuinely thought through CEO and board succession planning.
From emergency hiring to planned succession
Planning who takes over at senior level is often treated by businesses as a ‘tomorrow problem’. So what triggered the change? Early in the year, research put a spotlight on just how fragile succession still is at the top of many UK organisations. The majority of new FTSE CEOs were still being hired externally rather than developed in-house, a clear signal that internal pipelines were not where they needed to be.
That over reliance on external hires, and the risk that comes with it, has refocused boardroom attention on building leaders before they are needed, not scrambling when a crisis hits.
Within the recruitment sector, we have seen this shift much earlier, with far more intentional conversations about who comes next. Mandates are increasingly being framed around a three to five year view of what the leadership team should look like, rather than simply plugging today’s gap.
Founder led firms facing the succession reality
UK succession studies have been pointing to a structural problem for a while. CEOs are not staying as long, and internal pipelines often are not strong enough to step in when change arrives.
This year, more of those founders have started asking what succession means for them personally as well as for the business. That has led to clearer choices about whether they will evolve into a true chair, move to a strategic client role, or plan a staged exit – and to more realistic briefs for the CEOs and MDs who will follow.
Boards and chairs getting more structured
Across UK governance circles, boards are under pressure to balance fresh skills (think AI, digital, productivity) with leaders who have successfully navigated cycles before.
In recruitment, that is translating into more structured, future fit profiles for chairs and non executives who can genuinely support scaling, MA and technology adoption, not just act as a safe pair of hands.
Specialist search firms have noticed the shift too. Boards are now much clearer about the impact they expect a new chair to have in the first 12 to 18 months, whether that is strengthening pricing discipline, improving productivity or levelling up the leadership team.
That clarity is improving chair searches and triggering deeper conversations about how boards themselves will evolve.
Clearer, more demanding CEO briefs
Market updates across the UK search sector point to a step change in CEO expectations. AI capable leadership, data driven decision making and operating model redesign have moved from nice to have to non negotiable.
Cultural leadership and change capability are now front and centre too, especially for firms looking to modernise or integrate acquisitions.
At the same time, advisors are clear: CEOs appointed in 2025 will not just be judged on growth. They will be expected to take ownership of internal talent development and succession as part of their remit.
Incoming CEOs are also asking tougher questions about board quality, equity stories and what their eventual succession might look like. That is forcing founders and investors to articulate a more credible long term plan.
Succession as an ongoing discipline
One of the biggest mindset shifts this year has been recognising that succession is not an event, it is a discipline.
Investors and advisers are framing it as a continuous process: identifying and developing future leaders, planning for critical roles and thinking about board composition long before any vacancy arises.
For recruitment and executive search firms, that has meant bringing the conversation much further upstream. Before launching a search, more founders and boards are now asking ‘what should our future leadership look like and what will it take to get there?’.
In summary
For boutiques specialising in CEO and board level hires in the recruitment sector, 2025 has been the year of deeper, earlier succession work. And the firms engaging seriously with it now are the ones entering 2026 looking more resilient, more investable and undeniably better led.
If this year has proved anything, it’s that leadership continuity cannot be left to chance. Founder-led firms that took a more open and structured view of their future leadership are entering 2026 with stronger direction and fewer hidden risks. The opportunity now is to keep that momentum and build succession into everyday leadership thinking.