For decades, succession planning in Nordic listed companies has followed a familiar rhythm: a couple of board workshops each year, HR-prepared “successor slates” for key roles, and a slide deck that quietly fades away by the next crisis.

According to Harvard Business Review, traditional processes have relied on qualitative judgments and internal networks, with consultants manually mapping potential successors. The result? Reports that quickly become outdated as roles, strategies, and skills evolve.

This is why Listeds created a new model — what we at Listeds call Succession Intelligence —  a one-stop service which turns succession planning into a continuous, data-driven capability.

Traditional succession planning was costly and exclusive — only a few companies could afford it for all management and board members. Now, with intelligent tools, it’s finally possible for every listed company to have a living, affordable succession plan.

​​Helene Auramo, founder and CEO of Listeds

A European paradox

Auramo saw the demand for a new service to secure future company leaders. “In discussions with Heads of HR of listed companies, one message has been clear: this kind of service is not just useful — it’s essential. Succession intelligence should be part of every company’s risk management plan.”

The time is ripe for change. Harvard Business Review notes that traditional succession planning processes were built for a far more static and steady time. Today’s leadership cycles are fluid, requiring real-time awareness.

When the inevitable vacancy hits, most companies still escalate to an executive search — a process that takes 4–6 months, and sometimes up to a year for complex roles. Executive search fees typically consume 20–33% of first-year cash compensation, with European examples starting around €30,000 (Global Talent Search).

Beyond cost, slow succession erodes decision velocity and market performance. Harvard Business Impact estimates that poorly managed C-suite transitions destroy roughly $1 trillion in market value annually across the S&P 1500.

Nordic boards are, by most measures, among the most sophisticated in the world. Yet even in this environment, the traditional, static model of succession planning is struggling to keep pace.

Leadership markets are simply too dynamic. The combination of international inflows, sustainability mandates, and digital transformation has compressed leadership tenures and blurred the boundaries between roles. Once-a-year successor lists can no longer capture that movement.

From static to living: the rise of succession intelligence

Deloitte’s research points to a clear shift. It shows that succession planning is still done quite manually, while AI could transform annual succession planning into a dynamic and flexible process.

In a related study, Deloitte found that while most organizations intend to do succession planning well, only 14% believe they execute it effectively (Deloitte Insights).

This is not the modern (Listeds) way of doing things. Instead of waiting for a board workshop, AI continuously scans leadership changes, tenure patterns, and trajectory data across all listed companies. It identifies when key leaders may be nearing transition (“tenure cliffs”) and flags emerging candidates inside and outside your company.

Where traditional plans delivered reports, Succession Intelligence delivers alerts or ‘signals’, as we like to call them at Listeds. It doesn’t audit the past — it predicts the next move.

The ROI of readiness

Replacing even a single external search can generate a 10× return on investment compared to static consultant-led planning (Listeds Internal Analysis).

More importantly, better-timed transitions reduce the market-value leakage that Harvard Business Impact associates with poor succession execution. In volatile sectors, a few weeks of delay can mean millions in lost confidence and capitalization.

The Nordic advantage

Nordic boards already benchmark composition, renewal, and governance. Pairing that oversight with always-on succession intelligence aligns naturally with regional best practice — transparent, fair, and forward-looking.

For listed companies balancing transparency, performance pressure, and investor scrutiny, a living plan offers:

• Speed: from months to days

• Visibility: across the entire Nordic leadership landscape

• Savings: avoiding costly external searches

• Predictive power: act before the market moves

“It’s all about timing — finding the right people at the right moment. With intelligent succession planning, that’s now possible. Companies can follow signals, like leadership changes or business shifts, and see when great people might be ready for their next opportunity,” Helene Auramo says.

How Listeds operationalizes it

Your 60-minute path to live:

1. Define key roles and success profiles (≈1 hour)

2. AI discovers 5–10 potential successors per role within days together with humans

3. Personalized leader pool with background, tenure, and trajectory data

4. Live tracking and alerts keep your plan perpetually updated

Succession Intelligence doesn’t replace human judgment — it amplifies it.

With a living, transparent view of leadership readiness, boards can move faster, fairer, and with greater confidence. 

The future is living

The era of static succession planning is ending. The next chapter — data-driven, transparent, and continuous — has already begun.

At Listeds, our mission is clear: to make leadership foresight a living capability in every Nordic listed company. Not to replace executive search, but to make it smarter — ensuring boards are ready long before a vacancy becomes urgent. 

When transitions are anticipated, search partnerships become strategic, and the resources once spent on emergency replacements can instead be invested in helping new leaders succeed and create lasting impact.

If you want to book a session with us. You can do it here: https://meetings.hubspot.com/auramo