The Longest Job Interview: Yasmene McDaniel's Dilemma as Interim CEO

Felicia A. Henderson, Zoe Kinias

Product #:W46943

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:General Management, Organizational Behaviour/Leadership

Setting:United States, 2022

Details:Case (PDF) • 8 pages • 2026-02-27 (Rev: 2026-05-01)

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AWARD WINNER: Third Place in the 2025 Ivey Women Investing in Leadership Case Writing Competition

This case presents Yasmene McDaniel as her hospital facility searches for its new CEO. McDaniel is interim CEO and has been readied for the permanent position. During this uncertain period, she experiments with strategies for developing leadership authority and questions how to maintain her motivation to secure the promotion. The case explores McDaniel’s progression from recent graduate to her appointment as COO of a major hospital facility, showing how professional aspirations and personal considerations shaped her career. The case then describes the careful attention the prior (female) CEO of the facility devoted to selecting and preparing McDaniel to succeed her. The dilemma is whether McDaniel should stay the course or prepare an exit strategy.

Learning Objectives

This case can be used at the undergraduate, graduate, or executive level in general management or specialized courses. While instructors can use the case without emphasizing social identity aspects, it is particularly well-suited for courses with a focus on inclusive talent development or for instructors seeking non-prototypical case protagonists. The authors have written the case to promote four different avenues of inquiry: careers (especially networking), authentic leadership development, intentionality in leadership succession, and the impacts of social identity on leadership.

Depending on the instructor’s focus, after reading and analyzing the case, learners will be able to

identify and evaluate internal and external factors—such as personal characteristics, professional choices, life stage pressures, and chance events—that can influence career decision-making and career progression;
recognize ways that relationships (networks) within and beyond organizations influence both access to professional roles and performance within roles;
develop personal strategies for approaching with authenticity challenges to their legitimacy and credibility as leaders;
debate the role and responsibility of organizational leadership in setting up new leaders for success, especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds;
reflect on the impacts of uncertain job tenure or promotion (such as for interim leadership roles or internships) on motivation, engagement, and effectiveness or perceived standards for evaluation and promotion; and
reflect on the potential impacts of social identity on a leader’s career trajectory, on follower acceptance and perceptions of the leader, and on the leader’s well-being.