At the start of 2017, Lego's board handed the chief executive's job to Bali Padda, a company veteran who became the Danish toymaker's first non-Danish CEO. He succeeded Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the architect of Lego's celebrated turnaround, who moved up to chairman. When Padda took over, Lego said the search for a successor would begin immediately.
Eight months later, on 10 August 2017, Lego announced that Padda, then 61, was stepping down, to be replaced in October by Niels Christiansen, the 51-year-old former boss of the engineering group Danfoss. The reason Lego gave was unusual: Padda, it said, was never expected to remain in the post long-term because of his age.
Lego framed the short tenure as planned — a combination of Padda's own wishes and a clear understanding with the chairman that the role would not be long-term. The search for a permanent leader, it said, had gone faster than expected. But the optics were awkward: a chief executive installed and removed within eight months, his age offered as the explanation.
The case was less about Padda than about how the board handled the succession. Appointing a leader you do not intend to keep, and then citing his age for the short tenure, turns a transition into a revolving door. A handover that was always meant to be brief could have been designed as a transition from the start — and spared the company two chief executives in eight months.
Lego installed a 61-year-old CEO it never meant to keep, then replaced him eight months later citing his age, making a planned transition look like an abrupt removal.
The board appointed a 61-year-old CEO it said it never expected to keep long-term, so the leadership was designed to be unstable from the day it began
Citing the chief executive's age for an eight-month tenure made a planned transition look like an abrupt removal and raised questions about the board's planning
A succession that is meant to be brief is better designed as an explicit transition than as a full CEO appointment that is reversed within months
The result was two chief executives in eight months — the instability a clear, upfront handover plan would have avoided
If an appointment is temporary, design it as a transition, not a coronation. Lego installed a CEO and replaced him eight months later, citing his age — the instability a clear handover avoids.
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