When does a CEO know it’s time to go? Well, one way is when the board shows you the door.
But sometime before that, when does a CEO know it’s time to go even when he’s still enjoying a hot streak?
If you are the CEO, no one but you can answer this question. But we can give you some clues about what you should keep in mind. It may be time to go if…
- You no longer have fun. Deep down you have been feeling this confused feeling: the same old same old. You find yourself pining before, or worse, during meetings that used to light your fire. His mind wanders to golf or getaways or something, anything, more often than ever. Leadership is a drag and you haven’t admitted it to anyone but your dog.
- You have achieved all the organizational objectives that you set out to achieve. Life is good. You and your team did it. Maybe you’ve even won accolades and awards. But now what?
- You can’t imagine what the organization will look like or where it will be in five years. At the beginning of his career, “the vision thing” was a piece of cake, but now it is difficult for him to see around the corner.
- You are finding it harder to make the tough decisions. To say goodbye to someone? OK, if he considered it legit and something the organization needed, he did it. Now pulling the trigger causes you more stress than the employee leaving. Are you closing a program, a product line or a service? Much more nighttime anxiety than it used to be.
- You respond with “I fixed it five years ago” when the staff comes up with a new idea. After a while, the chief innovator can become the main obstacle to innovation. He’s already done that and he doesn’t want to do it again, even when the market gurus say that “switching” is the name of the game in flat world economics.
- Your skills no longer match the challenges or opportunities of the organization. You came as a builder, you built, and now what do you do? Or you’re a financial wizard who redesigned the organization and made it profitable, but now the organizational challenge requires a marketer, visionary, or technocrat. The organization needs new blood and you no longer have the correct blood type.
- You feel like doing something new. You’ve always wanted to go out on your own. Risky? Yeah, but oh, go ahead. You’ve counted your years to 65 and want to spend them doing what matters most to you. You have accumulated assets. Now you want to accumulate experiences, or better yet, you want to give back time, talent and treasure. You want to serve.
- You feel like you’ve allowed yourself or others to slide into that danger zone where you or they mistake your identity for the organization. Founders are especially susceptible to this pitfall, but any longtime leader can fall victim to reading their own press. The danger for the organization is that the emperor may be naked and no one can or wants to share the bad news. The danger for the leader is a potentially very difficult emotional adjustment when the break finally occurs. Less worship, less advantages, no power. You forgot that the organization is not about you.
- You and/or the organization are under serious political or financial pressure. No one can be a CEO without pressure. Nothing new here. But now the pressure is at a level it has never been before. Or the pressure is coming from sources that previously provided unwavering support. Or the pressure is more on you, your vision or style, than on the challenges of the organization. How serious does the pressure have to be for the CEO to know it’s time to go? It all depends. But when you’re shaving or putting on makeup in the morning, look into your eyes and assess the question honestly. The organization can be better off without you.
- You are guilty of some kind of professional ethics violation and you know it. Too many high-profile corporate and government scandals have occurred in the last decade to ignore the unfortunate possibility of this one. If the shoe fits you, wear it, own it, change it, but don’t keep running from it. The prison is not a good retirement community.
- You are tired, physically, emotionally, mentally, maybe spiritually. It is not shameful to be tired. When he announced his retirement, even Green Bay Packers superstar quarterback Brett Favre said, “I’m mentally tired.” Tired doesn’t mean you’re old. It means you’ve given it your all and need a snack.
- Your spouse, family, or friends want more from you. Many leaders announce that they are going to “spend more time with my family,” but this is often a convenient euphemism for “I’m leaving before they kick me out.” That being said, family and friend considerations are real and valuable. It’s an old saying but one with power: “No one picks an epitaph that says, ‘I wish I had spent more time in the office.'” Organizational leadership comes and goes, friends last a lifetime, families are forever.
Unlike political leaders, corporate and nonprofit CEOs don’t typically work with term limits. When they leave is the decision of the board or of themselves. CEOs, by definition, don’t have a lot of people telling them what to do. Therefore, the ability to recognize clues that it might be time and honestly discuss them with mentors and confidants is a huge asset.
CEOs who stay too long are probably more common than CEOs who leave early. We are creatures of habit. We like our home and the community. We have adult children and grandchildren nearby. We find it more difficult to make a change because the mirror says that we are getting older. It is not sinister. is human
Yet CEOs who exceed their effectiveness or enthusiasm are doing no one a favor, least of all themselves. Our egos and insecurities tend to make us forget that leadership is temporary stewardship. It always comes to an end. The trick is to end it when it’s best for everyone.