Don’t Float Your Future
Part of my role in these Leading Thoughts is to present hard-hitting wisdom that may not come to you in other ways. I do this in part because I know that our leadership roles can often insulate us. The people around us may not feel comfortable giving us troubling news. We may not have “outside eyes” on what we do—like consultants or caring friends with perspective do. We may be so busy that we miss that trenchant book or vital conference. When I can, then, I want to put hard truth before you to save you from trouble and destruction.
I want to talk about what happens when you leave your role. I have worked with many senior leaders who decided to leave their positions. Some I worked with because they made a transition unwisely and I was called in afterward to help clean up the mess. Some realized they might mess it up, got help in advance, and made a successful transition. Here are three vital lessons for you from the frontlines.
- Prepare Before you Declare
Here is a truth you can count on. The moment you announce, even to your closest circle, that you intend to leave, you lose authority and the control required to shape events. I tell executives that the moment they walk out of that board room having announced their intent to leave—even a year later— they have a third less power than they did when they walked in. So consider carefully when to declare your intent to leave.
- Build Safeguards
Ideally, long before you declare your intent to go, you should build in the safeguards that guarantee a successful transition. For example, do your governing documents require the retaining of an outside executive search firm? Do they require a certain number of interviews? Do they require that you be involved in the choice of your successor? Do they define a period of severance for the person in your role—what that pay should be and for how long? All of this can be set in place years before your departure and all motivated by a love for your firm and a desire to have peace and goodwill prevail when you decide to leave. Build safeguards now. Declare later.
- Step From One Vessel to Another
It is a mistake to leave a role without knowing where you are going. Decide well in advance what you will step onto when you step off of the old. I use this language because I once saw a man get promoted in the Navy. His new rank was pinned on him aboard his ship, and then he stepped immediately onto his new ship, the one he would command. The security, confidence, and clarity of that moment was impressive. I suggest the same for you. You want to move from being a CEO to working with youth? Good. Then build that charity while you are still CEO and then, when the time is right, step from the one ship to the other. You plan to start a consulting firm? Great. Then design it and provision it before you step aboard. You want to go from strength to strength, from success to success. Even if you are retiring, do it with purpose and clarity. Step from the old into a known new. Don’t float your future.
Thanks for letting me speak forcefully to you. I want all your transitions to be successful. They will be if you prepare well and act decisively.