Founders, especially charismatic or dominating ones, are the stuff of folklore in American business. Sometimes they live on in their company’s name, as in “Dell” or “Boeing” and they always live in the stories we tell about them. Steve Jobs is the most recent example of the breed, which is why there have been so many articles and posts about him and about what Apple will become as his presence slips into the past.
The Washington Post Leadership Roundtable took up the challenge and included an article by Nancy Koehn, whose faculty bio says that she is a historian at the Harvard Business School whose research “focuses on entrepreneurial leadership and how leaders, past and present, craft lives of purpose, worth, and impact. ” Her article, “Putting Steve Jobs in perspective,” does what the title implies but also offers us historical lessons on succession. Here’s the core quote.
“History offers up several examples of gifted, charismatic (and controlling) founders successfully passing the baton to their successors. Take Thomas J. Watson, Sr., at IBM. By the time his son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., took over in the 1950s, many of his father’s contributions had been baked into the company culture. Not only did this keep the organization from faltering during transition, it enabled the son to focus on the next stage of important changes as its market and customers evolved. At McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, who did more to create the fast-food company than anyone else, built a team from inside the company that could carry his leadership torch after he was no longer as active in the business.”
So, the historical lesson is that both culture and leadership development are important for continued strong leadership. It’s not one or the other in today’s world, though. You need both and the magic is in the mix.
On the side of culture, you need to value and reward strong leadership. On the development side, you need to give leaders the opportunity to grow and develop through a combination of coaching, training, and on-the-job learning. I think there’s one more thing, too.
Founders have personal knowledge of the people who succeed them. They have spent time with them, thought about them, and evaluated them. That’s what Steve Jobs means when he says that he spent a lot of time selecting and developing his executive team.
That “personal knowledge” component is a third ingredient in the mix. Companies that are great at talent development are also the ones whose executives spend a lot of time getting to know talented leaders deep into the organization.
