The encyclopedia · People & Management · People decision · 2023–2024
WEG makes every leader name successors, so CEOs grow inside the firm
At WEG every leader must name two or three future successors; about 80% of leadership is promoted internally, and CEO Alberto Kuba rose from intern.
WEG
The solution
When Harry Schmelzer Jr. handed WEG's CEO role to Alberto Kuba, effective 1 April 2024, it was another step in a deliberate machine, not a search. Kuba, an electrical engineer with more than 21 years at the company, had been moved across sales, China operations and the motors division — each posting a signal of preparation.
The rule behind it, says the company's culture: every leader must always name two or three executives as future successors; the board then runs structured succession supported by outside consultancies. About 80% of leadership positions at WEG are filled by people promoted internally, from Brazil to China.
Schmelzer left after 16 years as CEO and more than four decades at the firm, having grown WEG from a small cap in 2007 into one of the ten most valuable companies on Brazil's exchange, with more than 30,000 employees worldwide. Kuba took over a group worth about R$140 billion.
Why it worked
- Naming successors is a duty of every leader, so pipelines never empty.
- Rotating candidates through roles and countries builds real preparation.
- Internal promotion keeps the founder culture intact across handovers.
- Board-driven structure removes family or personal arbitrariness.
What can be applied
If you always know who could lead next, succession stops being a crisis: make naming successors a routine duty of every leader, and fill senior roles from inside so culture survives the handover.
Aftermath
Kuba's first years kept WEG's growth trajectory, and the succession pipeline remains the company's governance pillar: structured, planned in advance, and fed by roughly 80% internal promotions. WEG stays one of Brazil's most valuable industrial companies, and the intern-to-CEO path is now the emblem of the culture.
Sources
- De estagiário a CEO: as lições e os planos do novo líder da WEG, um gigante de R$ 140 bi
- O que explica o sucesso da 'fábrica de bilionários' de Santa Catarina
- WEG announces CEO succession
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