Crossword Genius

Even with having long time to replace leader in industry, is forlorn (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

desperate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'forlorn' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'even with having long time to replace leader in industry' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'time' could be 'era' (an era is a period of time) and 'era' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'is' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for desperate that I've seen before include "Hopeless; extremely bad" , "Anguished" , "Feeling hopeless" , "Without hope" , "Extremely bad or serious" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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