When CEO transitions happen, the announcement message is just the beginning

When a CEO transition occurs, employees often do more than read the internal announcement. They’re also attuned to the public messages, like the press release or LinkedIn post. They can scrutinize these messages for what their leaders do and don’t say. On top of all of that, they’ve also got to consider what they’re hearing from their team leaders and managers.

According to Highwire’s new report, “Passing the Torch,” which analyzed 50 leadership transitions between 2023 and 2025 via LinkedIn, many communicators miss the opportunity to humanize leaders amid the change. These transitions generated 63 leadership posts in total. However, seven executives in the data set did not have a LinkedIn profile at all, and 19 who did have one did not post about their transition.

When there’s silence, employees might fill in the gaps on their own. And that can lead to diminished trust in the organization. And a flashy intro isn’t required.

“We were somewhat surprised that the best-performing messages were not the super-produced videos or sizzle reels,” said Keri Toomey, EVP of the professional services group at Highwire. “They were simple and human. They focused on personal milestones, not just corporate platitudes or structured talking points.”

The engagement data backs up Toomey’s point:

• Posts focused on legacy or succession planning: 16.56%
• Posts focused on career journeys and reflection: 13.79%
• Posts focused on strategic vision: 11.30%

In addition, Highwire’s report found that posts about career journeys and legacy or succession planning performed roughly 2.5 to 3 times above LinkedIn’s average engagement rate. The study concluded that the data reveal that audiences respond to authenticity, and that they look for a narrative bridge between the outgoing and incoming CEO. That bridge is critical because employees want to know continuity as much as they do about potential change.

A solid transition message can answer these questions:

• What the outgoing leader built in the top role.
• What the incoming leader is inheriting and what they bring to the table.
• What will continue and what may evolve.
• Why the new leader is ready for the moment.

“The transition is day one,” Toomey said. “It’s the beginning, not the end. Own the narrative, because if you don’t, someone else will.”

Highwire’s study also found that the packaging of the announcement had some impact on engagement. Text posts had a 19.3% engagement rate, beating out images, articles, documents and videos. Video had the lowest engagement rate of the bunch at just 3.1%.

Regardless of what you end up choosing, the message needs to be able to stand on its own in plain, easy-to-understand language for both employees and stakeholders alike.

Communicators need to remember that employees very rarely consume messaging in isolation. They’re likely reading both the internal and external messages about the transition and holding them up against one another. A deeply personal external message on LinkedIn won’t pair well with an internal note to staff that feels staid and impersonal. If the messages line up, then there’s less room for employees to ponder which one is the authentic one and which one is just business speak.

“You have to treat the employees like insiders,” Toomey said. “They should not be hearing about it late in the process, or after you communicate to clients, or worse, after you’ve communicated to the market. The tricky part is that anything you say internally can immediately go external, so you have to be ready to press go on all the related communications at the same time.”

Toomey added that communicators can’t forget that leadership transitions are personal moments. As the Edelman Trust Barometer states, people’s workplaces are their most trusted institutions, and comms pros are charged with helping employees and stakeholders understand the leadership transition and its impacts while also putting new leaders in a position to excel in their roles.

“This is, at the end of the day, a human taking on a new job from another human,” Toomey said. “How do we best tell their story? How do we make it true and real to them? Because that’s what will ultimately build trust, set them up for success and get them comfortable in this new seat.”

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.