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O P I N I O N
How to say no
S omething in the water? In rapid succession, three company leaders told me they had reached their outer limit of frustration and wanted to quit. While they came from different organizations, they had several things in common. They were experts in their respective fields, hardworking, and dedicated to company success. Leading a successful organization takes the courage to try new ideas, weather many storms, and know how to say no.
Julie Benezet
They also faced three intractable problems concerning the leadership transition of their senior colleagues: 1)Staunch resistance to yielding client control. Their colleagues clung onto client control, refusing to pass it to the next generation who had assumed the bulk of the work, including relationship tending. 2)No mechanism to confront resistance. None of the companies had instituted a governance structure that would impose repercussions for not relinquishing control. Their boards of directors included no outside board members which, in addition to conflict avoidant cultures, allowed them to sidestep difficult conversations about the future. 3)Disinterest in installing the next generation of leaders. While the companies had identified emerging leaders, the senior colleagues showed
no interest in committing to a specific transition timeline. All three companies were experiencing the consequence of not solving these issues – threatened loss of key talent and their future. The question is how to fix the problem. THE POWER OF “NO.” The leadership transition issues described above have rational solutions. Orderly “The leader’s job is to determine which lines to draw for the welfare of the company and to say no when the lines are crossed.”
See JULIE BENEZET, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER March 2, 2020, ISSUE 1334
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