book review richard branson

book review richard branson

The success of the succession

succession issues are currently on the agenda of many organizations – and if not, it should be. It is difficult to make a smooth transition and successful and advance planning and careful consideration is needed.

The Football Association are praying that Fabio Capello will prove much more successful than the England team that his predecessor, Steve McLaren, whose appointment aborted in May 2006 is considered ill-advised from the outset.

the estate of the reflex is a bad thing, but with a crown prince "Waiting in the wings for years is not an easy situation to handle, like Prince Charles and Gordon Brown, no doubt testify.

But what happened to the rule of the Virgin "when Richard Branson is one with his proverbial ball is an enigma, because there is no indication of a number two is ready to mount on the plate.

Most succession plans for the amount of crisis management. The culture of short termism, the heads were expelled for failing to produce immediate results is partly responsible. The average term of a director general in the private sector is less than four years, and fall, and those recruited from outside the company to move faster than through the ranks.

CEO churn is disturbing, destabilizing and demoralizing and can lead to a spiral of decline. It is also costly: the number of holders get "rewards for failure" is increasing. It is therefore not surprising that shareholders are companies begin the question more closely on their succession plans, which are increasingly seen as part of good governance.

There are those wondering why it is necessary to hire an Italian to manage the England football team. Others question the increasing number of foreigners running businesses in the UK – at last count 28 FTSE-100 companies had a non-nationals in the United Kingdom as CEO. Although this may reflect the increasing globalization of business, you should at least something to the negligence of their talent pipeline companies over the last 15 years.

Not only are many companies have no intention of succession, they also have little idea of the talent they have and the need organization. So they resort to "easy" option of writing in the cases of "savior", and if the international search and rescue, so much the better.

The problem with this approach is highlighted by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, in which more than 90% of 'major' companies it identifies are led by executives who have grown up in the company. There are very good reasons for this, "said Collins. "We need executives who have ambitions for the company and not what, and people tend to be launched in place of those who may be "bought".

In addition, you must determine who should be in business and how the seats before deciding to drive, and provides information within advantage. "What Moreover, this approach has a detrimental effect on the morale of other executives, who believe that they have out.

Nigel Nicholson Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, conducted a study which showed that people who change all companies with three or four years to grow faster than those who remain loyal to their organization. "There is a horrible trend in this country not to insiders value, "he said. "People are rewarded for disloyalty, and people are often the only way to advance within your organization is waving a job under the nose of his boss. Invariably, it is only when you get a market value in which pain is recognized internally. "

But there are times, of course, when a new broom is just what it takes to scan the old cultures or to report a change of address. Chris Brewster, professor of human resource management at Henley Management College International and the University of Reading Business School, agrees: "Most Organizations need a good dose of new blood at all levels in the hierarchy. You can have a little volume business administration. "

But he believes that the least risky way to do this is to provide a more junior executive levels and grow within the organization to see if they cut the mustard, and not just dumped directly into a strange place.

This argument is supported by HR guru Dave Ulrich in his new Leadership book (See business magazine, number 19), which asserts that leadership is not as easily transferable as many people would want the believe. "What worked in configuration would not work in another," he said.

But as a headhunter, said: "You can not develop talent for all eventualities. There is nothing wrong with putting a stranger if they can demonstrate that it can be demonstrated better than any internal candidate. "

To this end, is still useful for talent point internal reference that is available on the market, continues. "Armed with objective evidence of companies are then able to justify the above quotes are – whether internal or external public – Internal and external. "

If the advertisements for the heads of "talent management" are anything to go by, at least some companies are beginning to take seriously the management of talent again. A growing number of companies are assessing their talent management and leadership use to help businesses grow.

But the smooth succession and planned business leaders is the most Important in this process talent management and more difficult to achieve.

Although long-term is preferable to rapid rotation, which displays much more difficult. History latest business is replete with examples of leaders who have stayed in a long time, including late Anita Roddick of The Body Shop and Sir Richard Greenbury Marks & Spencer. The answer is to resist the temptation to see the company as an extension of themselves and, instead their role as custodian of financial assets account stakeholders.

Previously published in the magazine business, management and impact href = "http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/22545.asp"> http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/22545.asp

About the Author

I am currently a Director of Impact Executives which is a Global Interim Management provider (part of the Harvey Nash Group) and in this role I am at the frontline of dealing with senior clients and candidates across a wide range of change, HR and resourcing issues. I have extensive commercial experience gained through general management and board roles within both Plc’s and also through running my own businesses. I have over 18 years international experience of providing cross-functional resourcing solutions to both global businesses and start-ups. I specialise in the following sectors: Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, and Local Authorities. Visit my blog at http://www.impactexecutives.com/journal/clivesexton or the Impact Executives website at www.impactexecutives.com.

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