Boards love the idea of CEO overlap.

On paper, it looks respectful and efficient. The outgoing CEO stays a few weeks. The new CEO walks into a warm handoff. Everyone tells themselves that this will protect relationships and keep things from falling through the cracks.

In reality, it often does the opposite.

When two CEOs share space, the organization hangs in between eras. Staff do not know whose voice carries more weight. The outgoing CEO still has history and comfort. The incoming CEO has the title but not yet the trust or relationships. The result is a muddled start at the exact moment when organizations need clarity.

I have heard versions of this story from several colleagues. One told me that the search committee took great pride in promising overlap with the retiring CEO. The committee described it as a gift. It sounded reassuring in the interview process. Once they started, the reality set in. For weeks, the outgoing CEO walked them through every process and file, explaining each step in detail and describing “how we do things here.” Underneath the explanations sat an assumption that the new CEO would keep the same systems and habits, even when they had been hired to lead change.

Another colleague described weeks where the outgoing CEO sat at a desk near their old office. Staff arrived in the morning and saw both leaders in place, side by side. Staff were confused about the lines of authority and didn’t know who to go to for guidance. The new leader had to spend extra time asserting their role before they could even begin to lead.

In each case, the board and the outgoing CEO believed they were doing the right thing. They wanted continuity. They wanted to show respect for long service. They wanted the new CEO to feel supported. Instead, they blended the ending of one era with the beginning of another and made it harder for the new leader to step in.

Healthy transitions need clean edges.

Staff need time to absorb the fact that the previous CEO is truly leaving. They need a moment to say goodbye, feel whatever they feel about that departure, and then turn their attention forward. That is difficult if the outgoing CEO still appears in the hallway, joins staff meetings, or reads along on every email. It keeps the organization emotionally anchored to the past.

If there is no interim leader between CEOs, I recommend a different pattern. The outgoing CEO should depart at least a few days before the new CEO arrives. That short gap matters more than it looks on a calendar. It signals a real ending. It gives staff room to reset. It draws a bright line that says, “That chapter has closed. A new one is about to start.”

A clear break does not mean a cold or abrupt handoff. The relationship between outgoing and incoming CEOs still matters. It just needs structure.

In the best transitions I have seen, the two leaders meet one or two times before the new CEO’s first day. Those conversations focus on a few essential topics: key risks on the horizon, critical staff and board relationships, major contracts, and any near-term decisions that are already in motion. They should also provide transition documents that include all of the important information. The goal is not to walk through every historical choice or justify past decisions. The goal is to equip the new CEO with context they can use right away.

After the departure, the outgoing CEO remains available, but in a different mode. They shift into a quiet advisory role. The new CEO knows they can reach out with targeted questions. A board chair may occasionally ask for a specific piece of history. Everyone understands that the day-to-day leadership now sits entirely with the new CEO.

This approach respects the contributions of the outgoing CEO. It protects the dignity of their exit and the integrity of the new leader’s entry.

What if the new CEO continues to hang on?

Often, a new CEO walk into a situation that is out of their control. The board has encouraged overlap. The outgoing CEO has agreed to stay on for a transition period. You may feel pressure to accept the arrangement as a favor. Saying no can appear ungrateful.

If you do not have a choice about overlap, you still have choices about how you use it.

Patience is the first tool. The outgoing CEO may be navigating their own sense of loss. They may want to prove their value one more time. They may feel responsible for easing you in. Recognize that emotional layer. It can help you respond with calm rather than frustration when they explain one more process or appear uninvited in one more meeting.

Then, begin to steer the time that you have together. Come with a short list of what you want to know. Ask about the health of the leadership team. Ask which board members require special attention. Ask where they see unaddressed risk. Ask which assumptions they believe staff hold that may surprise you. The more specific your questions, the easier it is to guide the conversation away from lengthy tours through file structures and toward the insight you actually need.

Authority is the next area to protect. When staff ask questions in front of both of you, step in quickly and answer. You do not need to undercut the outgoing CEO. You do need to make it clear, in a steady and matter-of-fact way, that decisions now come from you. If the outgoing CEO answers a question that belongs to you, follow up in the moment and add your perspective, then reinforce privately that you need room to lead. Staff watch these interactions closely. They are learning whom to trust and follow.

If any opening appears to shift the mode of overlap, take it. Suggest that the outgoing CEO focus on project work that can be done off-site. Propose that the detailed handoff of documents and history happen through organized notes, not daily walk-throughs. Advocate for a schedule where they come in only for specific farewell events or planned meetings. Physical presence in the office carries a lot of symbolic weight. Reducing that presence, even a little, helps the organization adjust.

Boards and outgoing CEOs can make choices that set the new CEO up for success.

If you serve on a board, remember your real goal. You are not there to provide comfort to the person who is leaving, or to reassure yourselves by extending their shadow. You are there to set the new CEO up for success.

That usually means a clear end date for the outgoing CEO before the new CEO arrives, a focused briefing between the two, and a simple communication plan that tells staff, partners, and members exactly when the shift happens and who now holds authority.

If you are the outgoing CEO, think about the legacy you want to leave. Staying on for weeks may feel helpful, but the most generous move is often to exit cleanly and make yourself available only by request. You can still share what you learned. You can still answer questions about history. You just do it in a way that does not pull attention and loyalty back to you at the moment the organization needs to move forward.

Every leadership transition has an ending, an in-between, and a beginning. When you blend the ending and the beginning, you weaken both. A short gap between tenures, paired with clear expectations and limited but thoughtful contact, allows the new CEO to claim the role and the staff to step into the next chapter.

If you are heading into a CEO transition, ask one simple question: are we giving the outgoing leader a real ending so the new leader can have a real beginning?