Article published on the blog Strategyzer. Added on October 31, 2016 by Steve Blank.

What happens to a company when a visionary CEO is gone? Most often innovation dies and the company coasts for years on momentum and its brand. Rarely does it regain its former glory. In this article, Steve Blank, father of Lean Startup and a globally recognized strategy thinker, explains why. 

Lessons you learn in this post:

• Innovation CEOs are almost always replaced by one of their execution VPs
• If they have inherited a powerful business model this often results in gains in revenue and profits that can continue for years
• However, as soon the market, business model, technology shifts, these execution CEOs are ill-equipped to deal with the change – the result is a company obsoleted by more agile innovators and left to live off momentum in its twilight years.

Read the article here!