Is SA Inc ready for its next generation of leaders?

15 December 2025: South African companies are at risk of a growing leadership bottleneck. While executive mobility between roles and organisations is accelerating globally, CEO succession locally has slowed significantly since the pandemic, placing renewed pressure on organisations to strengthen internal pipelines and improve their ability to attract senior talent. As a result, organisations are reassessing how well they are cultivating the next generation of executives, and building cultures that appeal to top talent.

Concerningly, many leaders aren’t convinced their companies are succeeding. The 2025 Heidrick & Struggles CEO and Board Confidence Monitor report found that 46% of CEOs and board members internationally have limited confidence that their organisations are effectively building, developing, and retaining the leadership needed for the future.

Mark Watt, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles South Africa, says, “Post-Covid, CEO succession across listed companies has slowed, but top prospects have become far more selective. They are now looking beyond salaries and titles to the freedom a role offers, and whether an organisation’s purpose, stability, culture, and long-term direction align with their own values.

“Companies are increasingly competing for a limited pool of ready-now leadership, and the individuals with those capabilities know it. Many organisations’ best people live far from their offices and set their own terms simply because their skills are in high demand.”

To attract and retain leadership talent, companies are acknowledging that leadership development is a strategic investment, not a discretionary exercise. This has led to greater demand for evidence-based leadership assessments to strengthen executive ranks and reinforce an organisation’s value proposition for prospective talent.

The rising importance of evidence-based assessment

Effective leadership assessments provide a clear, data-driven picture of strengths, potential, and gaps, revealing whether teams can deliver on strategies that require influence, innovation, and accountability.

“Individual assessments have value, but no leader operates in isolation,” Watt notes. “Holistic assessments that consider the performance culture of teams, departments, and organisations as a whole offer far deeper insight. Like a pebble dropped in a pond, the ripples become more visible and impactful the further they extend.”

Yet many assessments fail to drive real change. Heidrick & Struggles has found that development plans created after assessments often stagnate, with little follow-through or progress tracking. The result is stalled growth and leadership pipelines that are unable to meet future demands.

The problem lies in how organisations interpret and act on the insights, he explains. “Assessment becomes valuable when leaders understand what the data means in their specific context. Deep dives into organisational structure and behaviour may highlight challenges, but it’s only through experiential leadership development that we’re able to bring about real, lasting change.”

For companies beginning this journey, he cautions that assessments should not be treated as a report card, but rather as a roadmap that identifies where strengths can be harnessed and where development will have the greatest impact. The greatest value emerges when assessment data is linked directly to the capabilities required for future roles.

Five simple steps to build an effective assessment and implementation strategy

Watt recommends five steps for companies seeking to strengthen leadership and remain competitive in attracting top talent:

1.     Treat leadership as a strategic asset

Reframe leadership as a core organisational priority. Assessment and succession planning should be managed with the same rigour as financial reporting. Companies that treat succession as an ongoing discipline demonstrate stronger leadership depth and performance. As Watt notes, “Leadership must be managed as a continuous, organisation-wide priority aligned with business strategy.”

2.      Establish strategic clarity and simplify your framework

Identify critical roles and capabilities and revisit them as the business evolves. Keep frameworks simple and consistent, as complex models may hinder fair comparison. Focus on a clear set of enterprise-wide capabilities, such as agility, curiosity, and strategic influence, that apply across roles and enable meaningful assessment.

3.     Implement comprehensive, objective assessment methodologies

Use holistic, objective assessment tools to evaluate past impact, current capability, future growth potential, and cultural influence. Expert guidance ensures reliable data for crucial decisions.

4.     Integrate data into a centralised, actionable system

Assessment data only has value when it is accessible and usable. A centralised system allows leaders to see, in real time, where high-potential talent sits, where gaps exist, and how internal capability compares to the external market.

5.     Establish accountability through intentional engagement

Finally, Watt emphasises that clarity and purpose must be paired with intentional action. “It’s easy to be clear about what you want to do and purposeful about planning it, but not every leader has the ability to consistently act with intention.

“Assessments can identify what must change, but only deliberate, sustained action drives real impact. At Heidrick & Struggles, this means shifting from managing to leading – inspiring, empowering, and energising teams while mentoring and coaching them into becoming stronger, future-ready versions of themselves.”

Leadership assessment is increasingly a marker of organisational maturity. Companies that approach it with intention and consistency create environments where executives can lead with confidence. For top talent, boards that invest in transparent, data-driven leadership development send the clear signal that this is an organisation prepared for the future – disciplined, forward-looking, and committed to growth.