Now, with 14 league games remaining, his successor has the task of rescuing the club from relegation.

BBC: Pompey pay for chasing the dream

Whether a leadership transition takes place 12 months from now or two decades from now, picking a Jobs successor is a tricky task.

FORBES: Jobs 2.0

His successor's first task will be to hold together a disparate parliamentary group, divided between left-wingers and moderates, between vestigial socialist centralism and the Quebec contingent's desire for devolution.

ECONOMIST: Canada��s opposition

Massimo Franco, noted columnist for the leading daily Corriere della Sera, said the significance of the revelations about the bank and the Holy See's internal governance cannot be underestimated, since they were factors in Benedict's decision to resign and the major task faced by his successor.

NPR: Conclave To Elect Next Pope Opens Amid Uncertainty

As Mr Ollila steps down on June 1st, however, he hands his successor, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the difficult task of leading Nokia into new markets as the distinction between mobile phones and other consumer-electronics devices becomes increasingly blurred.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Such is the measure of the task that will face Mr Coffman's successor.

ECONOMIST: Wanted: miracle worker

Then over coffee, they might discuss the future of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's trusted aide who has had the difficult task of escorting his old pope into retirement and then returning to the Vatican to serve his successor in the initial rites of the office.

NPR: Pope Francis Tells Benedict: "We're Brothers"