It’s often difficult for a long-serving leader to step aside and let a younger generation take the reins. That’s true in both business and in politics, and business leaders can likely draw some lessons in succession planning from the recent experience of the Democratic Party in settling on a nominee for president.
Leadership in Politics Mirrors Business
The worlds of business and politics have much in common. Both involve competition, cooperation, complex organizational structures, strategic thinking, leadership, and other soft skills to succeed. If we think of political parties as organizations analogous to businesses, the party’s presidential nominee is like the CEO, at least during an election cycle. They are the face of the organization, they set the agenda and priorities for the rest of the team, and they lead the way.
The challenge in both the business and political worlds is how to handle the day when an existing leader needs to step aside. All of us get older. Times and the demands of the job change. But sometimes it’s hard for leaders to let go.
The Need to Let Go
“A popular adage about leaders says the most effective of them build self-sufficient organizations,” writes Lila MacClellan in an article for Fortune. “If the conductor leaves, the orchestra plays on. But let’s be honest: That’s not true for many of today’s most influential leaders, in business or politics. Instead, as this year’s run-up to the U.S. election has made plain, we often elevate leaders who believe they’re irreplaceable. Without me, the entire enterprise disintegrates, these leaders seem to think. The music stops.”
Convincing an aging leader to step aside is often a mental game. Outgoing leaders should be treated with gratitude, appreciation, recognition, and dignity. These individuals, often very driven and absorbed in their work, may also need help with the transition to a quieter life and reduced role within the organization.
Creating Beautiful Exits
“The Dutch management theorist Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries urges companies to create ‘beautiful exits’ when it’s time for someone to leave,” MacClellan writes. “Longtime leaders may need coaching to envision that exit for themselves. ‘It’s hard for human beings to accept their own disintegration, so we go into all different kinds of defensive maneuvers,’ he once told me—including clinging to power and to work.”
Whether in politics or business, succession planning is a key element in the long-term success of any organization. As the recent example of the Biden-Harris presidential nominee transition illustrates, organizations that don’t have a solid succession plan approach prepared may find themselves scrambling in crunch time.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.