Only 13% of companies have a succession plan for their top three roles. Nearly half lack a plan altogether. In a high-growth industry where speed and agility are key, no plan means high risk. It’s a structural liability hiding in plain sight.
When teams stall, most leaders instinctively look for a people problem. But according to The State of the Consumer Brands Industry Report, breakdowns in growth rarely start there. They often stem from structures that can’t support the scale being asked of them.
Misalignment: The Invisible Roadblock
The execution gap is widening. While 33% of C-suite leaders say their organizational structure is ready for the next stage, only 15% of VPs agree. This divergence matters. The people closest to execution are the least confident in the structure meant to support them. It’s a clear morale issue, and, perhaps more importantly, a warning signal.
High-performing individuals may underdeliver when the structure around them doesn't align with what the business now demands. As McKinsey notes in its work on organization design, even well-led companies experience execution failures when ambitious goals outpace structural readiness; a breakdown known as the "execution gap."
A report from Harvard Business Review found that succession planning often falters not because companies lack talent, but because roles remain static while the business evolves. The result, ”Fit-for-yesterday” leadership, with people stuck in roles that no longer reflect the organization’s current priorities.
Stats That Should Stop You in Your Tracks:
- 49% of companies have no succession strategy in place at all.
- 4 in 10 say unresolved team gaps delayed a critical milestone such as a product launch or capital raise.
- 1 in 3 executives say they’re seeing underperformance in teams where the person appears to be a great fit on paper.
These patterns indicate deeper structural problems that hiring alone cannot solve.
Structure Before Scale
Leaders may agree that they have talented, passionate, and capable people, but the org design around them often lags behind. The State of the Consumer Brands Industry Report makes the issue plain: strong talent is often locked into outdated or misaligned roles.
Future-ready companies are tackling this head-on by:
- Auditing current roles to determine whether they are still fit-for-purpose
- Embedding succession planning into long-term strategy
- Adjusting team architecture to enable faster decision-making
- Engaging advisory partners like ForceBrands to conduct structural diagnostics
ForceBrands’ Right Seat Audit™ uncovers friction in your org chart by assessing structure and performance. It’s built for high-growth environments where speed, clarity, and alignment are non-negotiable.
In fast-moving companies, even brief delays carry a steep cost: lost time and momentum.
Is Your Org Built for What’s Next?
Too many teams rely on high performers to carry the weight of outdated structures. It works—until it doesn’t. Succession isn’t a contingency plan. It’s a growth strategy.
Download the full State of the Consumer Brands Industry Report to learn how future-ready brands are building structural resilience into their talent strategy.