A lot of my life the past 5 years has been spent helping leaders experience success in their successions.

Today, we received word of one the most public and high level transitions we will see in our lifetimes. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, announced about 75 minutes ago that he is handing off the CEO role at Amazon to Andy Jassy.

Here are five observations on succession / transition
from Bezos that could make us all better.

1. Build your bench.
– Amazons new CEO, Andy Jassy, has been with Jeff Bezos at Amazon for 25 years. Jeff is able to leave Amazon today and invest in other ventures because he has invested in leaders in his original sandbox at Amazon.

2. Become an open-handed incubator for leaders.
– Amazon has launched many high-level leaders out to lead at other high-level organizations such as Airbnb. Do not be afraid, especially in the Church, to launch even your best leaders out into the world as Kingdom contributors.

3. Hand off before you have to.
– Jeff Bezos is only 57 years old, and arguably at the top of his game.

4. Even smart transitions can experience an initial shock.
– At the writing of this article, Amazon stock is down due to this transition announcement even after massively beating earnings. Even healthy organizations can experience pull backs during transition seasons.

5. Transitioning doesn’t mean retiring.
– Jeff is 57 years old and he is handing off Amazon to honor and retain a gifted leader. And he is looking to add new wisdom and energy to other opportunities and passions such as Blue Origen and the Washington Post.