The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire [Paperback]

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 1991

How a business replaces its chief executive often determines that firm's future. If a business does not effectively manage the transfer of power, utter turmoil can result, with profound implications not only for the CEO, but also for the other employees, the shareholders, and the community at large.
Filled with inside stories from corporate boardrooms and fresh conceptual perspectives, The Hero's Farewell describes in rich detail the factors that affect executive succession. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld offers the first close examination of the critical role a CEO's departure style plays in helping, or hindering, the transfer of power. Through candid interviews with fifty prominent retired chief executives from corporations such as AT&T, Ford, Dupont, United Technologies, and Raytheon (David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan and Thomas J. Watson, Jr. of IBM among them) and a survey of an additional three hundred top managers, Sonnenfeld identifies the four major types of leadership departure styles. These types include Monarchs, who choose not to leave voluntarily but either die in office or are overthrown; Generals, who leave reluctantly and spend their retirement planning a comeback; Ambassadors, who retain close ties with their former firms; and Governors, who willingly serve a limited time and leave to pursue new interests.
Capturing the human drama of these departures and succession battles, The Hero's Farewell will fascinate anyone intrigued by power struggles in large corporations. Outlining ways to smooth out the inevitable transfers of power that corporations must face, Sonnenfeld presents essential information for all top executives and especially for CEOs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Little attention has been paid by the public to the crucial issue of corporate succession as the spotlight turns to a company's new chief executive while a departing one shuffles off. Sonnenfeld, an associate professor at the Harvard Business School, here outlines a typology of corporate succession that focuses on the departure styles of four different kinds of corporate leaders. He calls them: "Monarchs," who do not leave voluntarily; "Generals," who leave reluctantly and plot to return; "Ambassadors," who leave gracefuly and retain close ties to their old firms; and "Governors," who leave willingly to pursue new challenges. He probes the profound effects that each departure style has on the retiring CEO and the firm. Sonnenfeld illustrates his typology by describing the departures of some of America's greatest corporate leaders, including Edwin Land of Polaroid (a Monarch), William Paley of CBS (a General), Thomas Watson of IBM (an Ambassador), and Reginald Jones of GE (a Governor). The book is a useful analysis that illuminates a long-neglected area of management theory.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A thoughtful account of the transition that high-powered CEOs confront as they consider retirement."--Chicago Tribune

"Intriguing exploration of succession strategies."--H.A. Raymond, University of South Dakota

"Excellent--thoughtful, well-documented, rich material, well-written. An important contribution."--Lynne Rosansky, Babson College

"Excellent book on what makes the CEO tick. The scholarship is sound, and the conclusions are convincing."--F.M. Buchanan, Salisbury State University

"Excellent--covers a very intriguing topic which all managers must deal with."--Lanny A, Karus, State University of New York, Oswego

"A shrewd management study."--Newsweek

"Sonnenfeld presents an original theory, based on five years of research and interviews with fifty top executives, to explain both the psyches and the departure styles of CEOs. He offers frank, revealing profiles of individual business leaders and how they left....A pathbreaking achievement. Sonnenfeld's research is innovative and substantive, his material is soundly organized, and he presents it with skill and flair. The book deserves to be read widely, both by business people and by others who want insights into what's happening in corporate America."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Sonnenfeld has provided a valuable service, as well as an interesting study, by showing through examples that the method by which a CEO exits a firm can be as important to the company as the method by which that same chief executive led it."--The Miami Herald

"[Sonnenfeld] has succeeded--and succeeded brilliantly--in what he set out to do....One of the best business books of the past year, perhaps of the decade....[The Hero's Farewell] has something of real value to say about management and, more important, about leadership. The volume is filled with fascinating stories from inside corporate boardrooms, but these stories never fall into mere anecdotalism: they always make or confirm an important point. It is challenging. It is highly recommended."--The Toronto Globe and Mail

"This is a fascinating book, not least for what it has to say about the nature of leadership and the complex psychology of those who achieve it....A welcome change from the breathless simple-mindedness of so many of the management best-sellers of recent years."--Financial Times (London)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 7, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195065832
• ISBN-13: 978-0195065831
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reduce Chaos to Disorder, March 22, 2011

By 

John W. Pearson "John Pearson Associates" (San Clemente, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire (Paperback)

In my Management Buckets workshops, I talk about the four levels of mastering the 20 critical competencies (buckets):
--Level 1: I don't know what I don't know.
--Level 2: I know what I don't know.
--Level 3: I have an action plan to address what I know I don't know.
--Level 4: I can coach and mentor others. I can teach the course!

So feeling pretty smug that I've been around the block once or twice, I was startled to realize that I was back at Level 1 regarding what happens when CEOs retire. Wow. I learned a lot from this book--and, like all great books, I found immediate value in attaching a memorable label to four kinds of CEO retirement. Recommended to me by Paul McKaughan (a "retired/ambassador" CEO), I've already recommended this book to more than 20 other CEOs.

First published in 1988 by Harvard prof Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the book is part history, part expose and part therapy. "This is a book," he begins, "about how the management succession process involving chief executive officers of major corporations is affected by the heroic view that CEOs have of themselves. Some plan carefully and choose wisely who will succeed them. Others fight the process and must be forced out in what can be traumatic episodes for the CEOs and the organizations."

Painstakingly researched (five years and 50 personal interviews), the book describes four types of CEO retirement transitions:
--The Monarch's Departure. "Monarchs leave their thrones only through their death, ill health, or as with [Boston Consulting Group's Bruce] Henderson, a palace revolt."
--The General's Departure. "Although as with monarchs, the leader's heroic mission is important to generals, it is not as important as are their needs for a heroic identity. The generals' greatest barrier to exit is their identification with heroic stature. They treasure the respect and recognition they have earned, and in leaving high office, they leave behind a great deal of their self-worth."
--The Ambassador's Departure. "Ambassadors, like generals, also remain within their firms after retirement. Unlike the generals, however, the ambassadors do not seek to return to top office positions. They work to support rather than to subvert their successors. Guided by an inner sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, the ambassadors are not searching for more battles to further prove their heroic valor."
--The Governor's Departure. "In contrast to the open-ended reign of the monarch, the general's eager return to office, or the ambassador's maintaining of advisory status, the retiring governor-like business leader usually leaves office for a completely new activity. The governors have long had extensive interests outside their firms. Retirement for them is often merely a career change as they turn to pursue outside interests. After they disengage from their firms, their careers do not fade into the sunset. Any new activities tend to be leadership roles and not solely board memberships."

There's more. All interesting, even fascinating, at this insider's glimpse into decades of boardroom transitions--not all pretty! Along the journey, Sonnenfeld's color commentary informs and teaches. What does it take for CEOs to give up the "psychological perks" of the office? He quotes another Harvard prof's advice to an incoming CEO: "The first step in a mess like this is to reduce chaos to disorder." A brilliant one-liner.

While the ambassador style seems the most God-honoring, the author points out that some of his ambassador subjects weren't exactly humble. Another insight: Withthrop Knowlton, Harper & Row, "cautioned that the chief executive's natural tendency to close his or her administration in a `blaze of glory often leads them to become increasingly drawn inward...to work harder on corporate problems in the last year or two.' He suggested that chief executives should instead be encouraged to join other boards for exposure to other exit patterns and to broaden their interests and identities."

Here's my surprising recommendation: read this in your 40s and 50s--don't wait until you're in your 60s. There is great insight on both the way up and the way out of the organization.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finishing Well, September 12, 2006

By 

"Dr. G", Ph.D. "Leadership Professor" (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire (Paperback)

While a bit dated, this book is one of the most important assessments of the ways strong leaders retire. The four-fold typology of retirees as monarchs, generals, ambassadors and governors is well anchored to credible research providing a helpful way for senior leaders to categorize their leadership style and anticipate the nature of their final departure. The identification of the three sets of tensions faced in the departure of the corporate hero (1) within the leader, (2) across generations of leaders and (3) between leaders and the wider community provide significant insight into the psychological and socio-cultural realities of retirement.