The Final CEO Challenge - Finding the Right Successor

By: Shawn Desgrosellier

There I was, in the depth of a phone conversation with a CEO discussing the future of his organization. He was experiencing one of life's greatest challenges for a Founder and CEO - succession planning. He used three categories that were in his opinion most important: alignment of the team, selecting the successor, and mentally preparing to let go of control.

The evaluation and alignment of the current team requires the experience to first of all understand the needs of the business. The successor needs to earn the respect of each employee and openly evaluate their skill set, identify with thier strengths, and move them into the right position for the best interest of the organization. Without the team, there is no company. The successor needs to have the right emotional strength to not only make the decision but to more importantly win over the employees and get their full support. "Rally the troops and charge the hill", mentality by all.

Selecting the right successor is far more complicated than the evaluation and alignment of the team. The company and it's success was created by the founder and due to the fact the organization was built around the competencies and beliefs of the founder make the search for the right successor even more complicated. When there is a business with a history of success and an existing employee base with decades of tenure this is a huge undertaking. The process will include a comprehensive evaluation of the organization, culture, client or customer base, reputation, history, niche or value proposition in the market, employees and their backgrounds, culture and so on...no detail should go overlooked and a handful of scenarios should be taken into consideration. This candidate ideally is already hired and has a proven track record with the organization. That however, is not always the case and often times the best candidate to succeed a founder is working elsewhere.

What happens when a founder leaves the company, what happens to the employees, what happens to the culture, and how do you mitigate to the best of your ability to find a person who can make the transition and hold it all together? The magic question- who will it be? It can't be emotional- this is business and this one of the paramount business decisions a founder or CEO will ever make. The person needs to be the perfect blend of leader, motivator, strategist, communicator, politician, and prepared to work harder than ever before.

Releasing Control- the behemoth! Release of control is the most challenging part of succession planning for this CEO and Founder. He was so torn with what he will do after he is no longer the decision maker and how can he help them and guide them from afar. He knew they were going to make mistakes but what worried him most was what made me write this post. He wanted them to continue to take risks and sieze opportunities. The CEO knew that without a little guts there was going to be no glory and the problem is that he is the only one that remembers the risks he took to get them to the place they are today. The same risks are required to continue to grow the organization by seizing opportunities. "Saving for a raing day", he said was being ready and able to strike when the time was right. Meanwhile, always knowing in the back of his mind that it might not work the way he intended. It took decades of making good decisions that built their foundation but it was when his experience and knowledge game him the confidence to take the big leaps that paid off and ultimately made the company what it is today. If it were not for those decisions and risks- we would be a very different company.

This final challenge is like a final thesis- and as he said to me "if there is anything I do right, this one has to be my masterpiece".

YOUR Career: the right PLACE at the right time

By: Shawn Desgrosellier

When you hear the phrase, "the right place at the right time" what resonates with you? It has relevenacy for so many scenarios, however I want to talk about how it relates to you and your career. As you can see from the title of this article I added CAPS to the words "YOUR" and "PLACE" so why are those two words so important?

YOUR career may look very different than it did 12-24 months ago and the next 12-24 months may continue to be both very uncomfortable and unpredictable. You have had 12-24 months to get adjusted to the volitility, so what are you doing about it? Have you at the very least changed your work habits? Are you getting in early and staying late? Are you working on your business development skills and are you investing your time and energy in an area that will help deliver revenue? If no, then have you at least worked on YOU and I mean character traits that need to be improved upon, such things as: reliability, creativity, attitude, energy, compassion, committment and trust? Now is the time to invest in yourself and your future.

What about your PLACE of employment, are you working for an organization who is taking advantage of this time to retool, make changes, cleanse itself of unproductive operations and people? Are you surrounded by people who are making you better at what you do? Are they the best in the business- the elite of the industry? What are they doing to push themselves to the next level? How do they stay motivated? How are they adjusting to the new economy? If you are not surrrounded by these people then the timing might be just right for you to consider your career options.

You are one of the highest sought after people in your industry and your career options have never been better.

Are you in the right place at the right time?