7 Proven Succession Strategies Behind November 2025’s CEO Shakeups

Three watershed moments in corporate leadership unfolded between November 10-15, 2025. Walmart's Doug McMillon announced his retirement after over a decade leading the world's largest retailer, with John Furner—who started as an hourly associate in 1993—taking over February 1, 2026. Apple intensified succession planning for Tim Cook, with hardware chief John Ternus emerging as the likely successor, potentially as soon as 2026. Diageo appointed Sir Dave Lewis following an extensive global search, bringing proven turnaround expertise from his Tesco transformation.

These aren't just executive reshuffles. They're masterclasses in organizational continuity that most leaders never study closely enough. The difference between companies that thrive through transitions and those that stumble isn't luck—it's ruthlessly disciplined succession planning executed years before anyone signs retirement papers.

The Cold Math of Leadership Transitions

Here's what nobody tells you: under McMillon's leadership, Walmart's stock grew 300% since he became CEO in 2014, and the company's market cap rose from around $250 billion to over $800 billion. That's not personality. That's systematic preparation.

Furner takes over the largest U.S. retailer at a crucial moment, with tariffs weighing on the economy and growing pressure over affordability, while the company navigates an AI transformation that McMillon has said will change every one of its 2 million-plus jobs. The stakes? Astronomical. The preparation? Decades-long.

Leadership transitions fail when treated as events rather than processes. They succeed when organizations build succession capability into their DNA.

Internal Development: The Walmart Model

John Furner began as an hourly associate in 1993 and worked his way to the top including stints at Sam's Club and Walmart's international operations. That's 32 years of institutional knowledge walking into the CEO role.

This isn't sentimentality about loyalty. It's strategic architecture.

Furner formerly served as CEO of Sam's Club U.S. and head of marketing for Walmart China, and he's a past chairman of the National Retail Federation. Each role wasn't just a job—it was deliberate capability building for the corner office.

The brutal truth: Most organizations claim to develop internal talent but actually hoard knowledge and protect territory. Walmart officials say they're following the same game plan they did when McMillon was announced as CEO, giving Furner a similar runway to take over. That's not generosity. That's recognizing the transfer of $800 billion in value requires more than a handshake.

Internal succession works when you:

• Design stretch roles intentionally - Not promotions. Training grounds.

• Make knowledge transfer mandatory - Not optional. Evaluated.

• Accept the 70% rule - Your successor doesn't need to be you. They need to be them, applied to future challenges.

Walmart chairman Greg Penner stated that Furner "has proven that he can deliver results while living our values". Values aren't soft. They're the operating system that survives leadership changes.

External Appointments: The Diageo Turnaround Logic

Sometimes you need a different operating system entirely.

Sir Dave Lewis brings proven CEO experience from transforming Tesco between 2014-2020 and nearly three decades at Unilever, credentials matched to Diageo's need to "deliver a return to consistent and sustainable growth".

Lewis earned the nickname "Drastic Dave" after fixing businesses through cost-cutting and innovative marketing during his time at Unilever. When your organization needs disruption, hire disruption.

Lewis will take over from interim CEO Nik Jhangiani, who had lobbied for the permanent position but had never run a major international corporation. That's not a knock on Jhangiani. It's acknowledgment that turnarounds require specific scar tissue.

External succession works when:

• Crisis demands it - Diageo downgraded its sales and profit outlook for fiscal 2026 and shares are hovering near a decade low

• Skill gaps are explicit - The Board examined candidates against priorities that the new CEO must be able to deliver a return to consistent and sustainable growth

• Cultural resistance needs breaking - Sometimes the insider can't say what the organization needs to hear

Following an extensive and thorough global search, the Board unanimously felt that Lewis has both the extensive CEO experience and proven leadership skills in building and marketing world-leading brands. "Extensive" and "thorough" aren't adjectives—they're the months of work most organizations skip because succession planning feels theoretical until it's urgent.

The Apple Enigma: Succession as Strategic Signal

Apple's board and senior executives have recently intensified succession planning for Tim Cook after more than 14 years at the helm, with discussions suggesting a change could happen as soon as next year.

What makes this fascinating: The succession preparations have been long-planned and are not related to the company's current performance, which is expecting strong end-of-year sales.

Read that again. They're planning succession from a position of strength, not crisis.

John Ternus is Apple's Senior VP of Hardware Engineering and the most likely candidate to take over, though no final decisions have been made. At 50, Ternus mirrors Cook's age when he became CEO in 2011, positioning him for potentially a decade or more of leadership—a longevity factor that appeals to Apple's board of directors.

The strategic calculation: Ternus joined Apple's product design team in 2001 and has overseen hardware engineering for virtually every major product in the company's current portfolio, including every generation of iPad, the latest iPhone lineup, AirPods, and the Mac's transition to Apple Silicon.

Apple has struggled to break into AI and keep up with rivals, spending significantly less in AI investments compared to Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft. Appointing a hardware engineering chief to lead during an AI transformation isn't random—it's recognition that Apple's differentiation lives in integrated hardware-software experiences, not pure AI infrastructure plays.

Apple's public relations teams have begun "putting the spotlight on Ternus," signaling the company may be preparing for a gradual transition of power. That visibility isn't PR. It's stakeholder preparation for a $4 trillion handoff.

The Knowledge Transfer Architecture

McMillon will remain on the board through June 2026 and an advisor to the company through January 2027. That's a full year of overlap. Not symbolic. Structural.

Most succession plans fail in the handoff. The outgoing leader either:

• Disappears too quickly - Taking institutional knowledge to the golf course

• Lingers too long - Creating shadow governance that undermines the successor

McMillon stated that Furner's "curiosity and digital acumen combined with a deep commitment to our people and culture will enable him to take us to the next level". That's not a press release platitude. It's acknowledgment that the successor must both honor the past and imagine different futures.

The architecture of effective knowledge transfer:

1. Time-boxed advisory roles - Clear end dates prevent dependency

2. Board continuity then exit - Governance oversight, not operational meddling

3. Explicit knowledge documentation - Relationships, unwritten rules, strategic context

4. Stakeholder introduction sequencing - Key customer, investor, and partner relationships transferred intentionally

What This Means for You (Whether You're Stepping Up, Aside, or Into)

If you're the successor:

Your job isn't to be the person who came before. Lewis acknowledged "the market faces some headwinds but there are also significant opportunities". Translation: I see what's broken. I respect what works. I'm here for the future, not the past.

The trap: Trying to prove yourself by changing everything immediately. McMillon has overseen a radical transformation of Walmart's image—in 2014, Walmart had a reputation as a budget retail option and was accused of underpaying its associates; today, it draws more well-to-do shoppers and has earned credit for adopting innovative personnel policies. That took a decade of sustained vision, not 90-day heroics.

If you're the incumbent:

McMillon stated: "Serving as Walmart's CEO has been a great honor and I'm thankful to our Board and the Walton family for the opportunity". Notice what's absent: ego about being irreplaceable.

The hardest truth: Your legacy isn't your tenure. It's what happens after you leave. Walmart chairman Greg Penner said McMillon "leaves Walmart stronger, more innovative, and better aligned with our purpose to help people save money and live better".

Are you building that strength or protecting your position?

If you're somewhere in the middle:

Furner has 30 years across merchandising, operations, and sourcing roles. He didn't know he was being groomed. He was learning the business from every angle.

Your current role isn't a destination. It's training for leadership you don't yet know you'll need. Every cross-functional project, every difficult stakeholder relationship, every failure that teaches you humility—those aren't detours. They're the curriculum.

The Uncomfortable Questions You Must Answer

For organizations:

• Who's on your bench? Not "high potentials"—people you'd trust with the CEO role tomorrow.

• What percentage of critical institutional knowledge exists only in one person's head?

• When did you last pressure-test your succession plan with actual scenarios?

• Would your organization be objectively stronger or weaker six months after your current leader left?

For individuals:

• Are you making yourself essential or making your knowledge transferable?

• What would your successor need that you're not developing?

• If you left tomorrow, who mourns versus who thrives?

• What are you clinging to that needs to be released?

The Paradox of Planning for Your Own Irrelevance

Diageo's board examined candidates against priorities including the ability to "refresh the strategy to deliver shareholder value in a potentially evolving landscape".

The greatest leaders prepare for succession knowing it means acknowledging they won't lead forever. That vulnerability—accepting your own professional mortality—is what enables organizational immortality.

Tim Cook told singer Dua Lipa in a 2023 podcast episode: "I love it there and I can't envision my life without being there so I'll be there a while". Yet Cook has previously stated his preference for an internal candidate, noting the company has "very detailed succession plans".

That's the discipline: planning for something you hope never happens while you're still capable of shaping it.

Beyond the Corner Office

These principles scale. You don't need a corporate board to think about succession.

For team leaders:

• Who could run your team meeting if you were gone for a month?

• What decisions only you make that shouldn't require you?

• When did you last deliberately develop someone to outgrow your team?

For individual contributors:

• Who's learning from you?

• What documentation survives your departure?

• Are you building a career or building capability?

The throughline across Walmart, Apple, and Diageo: Succession isn't about finding your clone. It's about strengthening organizational capability beyond individual contribution.

Walmart says it will announce Furner's successor as CEO of Walmart U.S. before the end of FY2026. Because the cycle continues. Furner isn't the endpoint—he's the next link in a chain that extends beyond any single leader.

The Final Measure

Under McMillon's stewardship since 2014, Walmart's annual revenue jumped 40% from $485.7 billion to $681 billion in its latest fiscal year. Impressive. But the real question: Could someone else replicate or exceed that growth?

That's the succession test. Not whether you were great. Whether you built greatness that survives you.

As Tim Cook approaches his 65th birthday next month, the speculation has intensified. Time respects no one's plans. The question isn't whether transitions happen. It's whether you prepare for them with the same rigor you apply to quarterly earnings.

November 2025's CEO announcements aren't just business news. They're templates for every leadership transition at every level: the planned and unplanned, the celebrated and contested, the smooth and chaotic.

Your move: Are you building your successor's capabilities or protecting your position? Would your organization be stronger or weaker after your departure? What knowledge have you made transferable versus keeping exclusively in your head?

The answers reveal whether you're leading for legacy or just occupying a seat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do internal CEO candidates often outperform external hires?

Internal candidates like John Furner bring decades of institutional knowledge—Furner spent 32 years at Walmart in roles spanning merchandising, operations, Sam's Club leadership, and Walmart China. They understand culture, politics, and unwritten rules that take outsiders years to decode. The transition risk drops dramatically when the successor already knows the organization's DNA. However, this works best in healthy, growth-oriented cultures—not turnaround situations requiring fresh perspectives.

When should organizations hire external CEOs instead of promoting internally?

External appointments work when specific turnaround expertise matches organizational need, as with Dave Lewis joining Diageo after the company downgraded its outlook and needed to "deliver a return to consistent and sustainable growth". Hire externally when: your industry is being disrupted beyond your team's capabilities, your culture needs fundamental change that insiders can't drive, or you need specific experience your bench lacks. Lewis's nickname "Drastic Dave" from his cost-cutting and marketing innovation at Unilever signaled the type of transformation Diageo sought.

How long should leadership transitions take?

McMillon will remain on Walmart's board through June 2026 and serve as an advisor through January 2027—a full year of overlap after Furner takes over. Effective transitions typically span 6-12 months of knowledge transfer for internal candidates, up to 18 months for external hires. Rushed transitions (<90 days) sacrifice critical stakeholder relationship transfers. Extended transitions (>2 years) risk creating shadow governance that undermines the new leader's authority. The sweet spot: Enough time to transfer institutional knowledge without the predecessor becoming a crutch.

What makes succession planning different from replacement planning?

Replacement planning answers "who fills this role if someone leaves?" Succession planning asks "how do we build organizational capability that transcends individuals?" Apple's succession planning for Tim Cook has been described as "long-planned" and "very detailed," with John Ternus's profile deliberately elevated years before any transition. Real succession planning includes: developing multiple internal candidates, documenting institutional knowledge, creating stretch assignments that test leadership capabilities, and normalizing the conversation that no leader is permanent.

How do you know if you're ready to be a successor?

Furner served as CEO of Walmart U.S. since 2019, overseeing the company's largest operating segment with 4,600 stores. You're ready when: you've successfully run a complex P&L, navigated both crisis and growth, built and developed teams, earned respect from multiple stakeholder groups, and demonstrated the ability to think strategically while executing operationally. But here's the paradox—you'll never feel fully ready. Ternus mirrors Cook's age when Cook became CEO in 2011, positioning him for potentially a decade or more of leadership. Readiness is proven through performance, not feelings.

What should outgoing leaders stop doing immediately?

Stop hoarding knowledge as job security. Stop making yourself the bottleneck for decisions. Stop surrounding yourself with people who can't challenge you. McMillon acknowledged that Furner's "curiosity and digital acumen combined with deep commitment to people and culture will enable him to take us to the next level"—notice he didn't say "maintain my level." The best exit is one where your organization accelerates after you leave, not declines. That requires deliberately making yourself replaceable.

How do boards evaluate CEO succession candidates?

Diageo's board examined candidates against priorities that the new CEO must be able to deliver a return to consistent growth, refresh strategy to deliver shareholder value, and understand customers both for today and the future. Boards assess: track record of delivering results, cultural fit with organizational values, strategic thinking capability, stakeholder management skills, and leadership during adversity. The process considered both internal and external candidates through a rigorous evaluation conducted with external support over several months. Boards prefer candidates who can both honor what works and change what doesn't.

Should succession planning be transparent or confidential?

Both, strategically. Apple's public relations teams began "putting the spotlight on Ternus," signaling the company may be preparing for a gradual transition of power. Make the process transparent enough that stakeholders understand succession capability exists, but keep specific timing and candidates confidential to avoid creating premature lame-duck situations. Walmart's announcement on November 14th was described as a "surprise" despite McMillon's 12-year tenure, yet they immediately named his successor—that's the balance: unexpected timing, but clear preparedness.

What's the biggest succession planning mistake organizations make?

Waiting until the current leader announces departure. Apple intensified succession planning while Cook is still performing well and expecting strong end-of-year sales, not because of crisis. The mistake: treating succession as reactive instead of continuous. By the time you're scrambling to fill a CEO role, you've already failed. Succession planning should be as routine as strategic planning—reviewed annually, stress-tested regularly, and updated as organizational needs evolve. Cook told CNBC in January he can't envision "doing nothing" and will "always want to work," yet has succession plans ready. Plan from strength, not desperation.

How does age factor into succession decisions?

At 50, Ternus mirrors Cook's age when he became CEO in 2011, positioning him for potentially a decade or more of leadership—a longevity factor that appeals to Apple's board. Age matters less than runway—how long can this person lead effectively? Lewis is 60, running Tesco from 54-60, and will now lead Diageo. For turnarounds, proven experience trumps extended tenure. For long-term transformation, boards prefer leaders with 10+ years of potential service. The real question isn't biological age—it's energy, adaptability, and strategic relevance for future challenges.

References

1. Axios. "Walmart CEO Doug McMillon retiring, succeeded by John Furner." November 14, 2025. https://www.axios.com/2025/11/14/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-retiring-john-furner

2. CNN Business. "Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is stepping down." November 14, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/business/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-retire

3. CNBC. "Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to retire in January after nearly 12 years leading retailer." November 14, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-to-retire-in-january.html

4. NBC News. "Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to step down in January." November 14, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/walmart-ceo-mcmillon-retire-rcna243901

5. Fortune. "Apple is ramping up succession plans for CEO Tim Cook and may tap this hardware exec to take over, report says." November 15, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/11/15/apple-succession-plans-ceo-tim-cook-exec-ai-investment-tech/

6. The Week. "Who is John Ternus? Why the top Apple engineer could be Tim Cook's successor." November 15, 2025. https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2025/11/15/who-is-john-ternus-why-the-top-apple-engineer-could-be-tim-cook-s-successor.html

7. 9to5Mac. "Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO 'as soon as next year.'" November 14, 2025. https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/14/tim-cook-step-down-as-apple-ceo-as-soon-as-next-year-report/

8. Fortune. "Meet John Ternus, the 50-year-old former swimming champ rumored to succeed Tim Cook as Apple CEO." October 7, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/10/07/john-ternus-apple-career-tim-cook-ceo-successor/

9. Yahoo Finance. "Apple intensifies succession planning for CEO Tim Cook, FT reports." November 15, 2025. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-intensifies-succession-planning-ceo-033813352.html

10. Diageo plc. "Sir Dave Lewis appointed Diageo plc CEO." November 10, 2025. https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases/2025/sir-dave-lewis-appointed-diageo-plc-ceo

11. The Spirits Business. "Diageo appoints Dave Lewis as CEO." November 10, 2025. https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/11/diageo-appoints-dave-lewis-as-ceo/

12. The Drinks Business. "Diageo appoints former Tesco boss Sir Dave Lewis as new CEO." November 10, 2025. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/11/diageo-appoints-former-tesco-boss-sir-dave-lewis-as-new-ceo/

13. RTE. "Diageo taps former Tesco chief Dave Lewis for CEO role." November 10, 2025. https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/1110/1543085-diageo/

14. Bloomberg. "Diageo Names Dave Lewis CEO as British Distiller Seeks Revamp." November 10, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-10/diageo-names-dave-lewis-ceo-as-british-distiller-seeks-revamp

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