Founder CEOs struggle with succession and balancing long-term vision

At one outlet BFSI Insight Summit 2026, Joydeep Sengutan, senior partner at McKinsey & Co., argued that succession planning remains the Achilles heel for founder-CEOs, with roughly two-thirds lacking effective strategies. He explained that top founders balance a far-reaching vision with meticulous day-to-day oversight, likening it to using a telescope and a microscope simultaneously. Sengutan also stressed the need to pursue disruptive ideas while safeguarding core values, and challenged the stereotype of founders as reckless risk-takers, noting that risk appetite aligns with ambition.

He illustrated this with David Ku of China's WeBank, who chose to wait for a full banking licence rather than pursue quicker, limited growth. The conversation further examined how founders blend Western management practices with local cultural insights, the difficulty of building lasting family legacies, and the under-representation of women, with only three female CEOs among the thirty executives studied.