Customer Reviews

Succession: Are You Ready? (Memo to the Ceo)

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Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is very clear that this book is less about the dry, logical, technical, or strategic issues of CEO succession and more about how to navigate the behavioral and emotional realities involved in successfully changing the guard at the top job. His central question for the CEO or top leader in any organization is: Are YOU ready?

To help you answer that question, he focuses like a laser on what may easily be the most challenging aspect of the process: the HUMAN side of leadership succession. While readily admitting that there are several books that can deal with the other technical issues, he forges ahead with powerful metaphors and stories that reveal the extreme importance of correctly handling the BEHAVIORAL challenges in leadership succession. How do you get yourself emotionally ready for moving on? How do you identify the right leaders to pass the baton to? How do you coach those leaders, and provide them with the best and most empowering tools for changing behavior? Ultimately, how do you "pass the baton?"

All these questions and more are handled in a way that reveals the unique insight Dr. Goldsmith possesses regarding the leadership challenges at the very top ... this time, not from the point of view of trying to BECOME the leader, but from the point of view of trying to replace yourself if YOU are the current, successful leader.

I love the analogy of Spock (the logical vulcan), which he uses to represent what this book is NOT about. (Dry, logical, statistical analysis). Perhaps even more, I love the analogy of PASSING THE BATON, which paints a truly powerful picture of what Succession is all about. Just as the lead runner has to carefully slow down without stopping, the second runner must also speed up and stretch out a hand to successfully receive the baton. It is this subtle dance - this carefully orchestrated coaching process - that Dr. Goldsmith uses as a central metaphor to kick off his book.

Like other previous books from Dr. Goldsmith, this is clearly a masterpiece. But beware, for this book will ask you to look deep within yourself with strong introspection if you are the CEO or Leader at the top. For succession is as much about YOUR behavior and emotions, as it is about those whom you hope to groom for the future!

Preparing for a successor can be a difficult step in an executive career, Succession: Are You Ready? (Memo to the CEO) addresses many thought provoking concepts when preparing your replacement.

Although the book provides a good concise summary of concepts and emotions you may experience while preparing for succession, if you are looking for a detailed plan this is not the right book for you.

Goldsmith does do an excellent job in providing a direction for those executives that are entertaining the idea of succession and may even be discussing it with a board. Primarily focused on large corporate environments and fortune 500 companies, the advise may still be good for entrepreneurs and other business people that may be emotionally attached to their jobs.

A good book for a quick flight.

The author tells CEO's how to retire with grace and dignity in this book (versus going out kicking and screaming, I guess). He gives a lot of suggestions on how they can do it and leave someone in charge that the CEO has trained himself. This will reflect on you if you do it. It's to your benefit to leave a good impression as well as leaving someone in charge that has been well trained. It shows what a good sport you are as well as how professional you are (and if you have stock in the company, it is an even better idea!)

When a CEO retires they have a hard time rejoining the human race and will find it impossible to just sit around and watch tv or play golf. The author suggests possible alternatives like getting in a group of other ceo's and discussing what else is possible. He tells of how some get other jobs, some donate their time running non-profit organizations, etc. They just have to find something they really like and head in that direction.

He gives a lot of good ideas and I thought the book would be good for anyone that retires from a high powered job and not just ceo's. The author writes with a sense of humor so it's certainly not dull.

Review of Marshall Goldsmith's "Succession: Are You Ready?"

Goldsmith's book is written in the form of a series of memos to the CEO of a major company, and delves into the human side of the executive succession process. Dr. Goldsmith builds upon his 31 years of experience as an executive advisor to the world's leading corporations and shares "real world" examples of the challenges and opportunities in top management transition. While the book is written as letters to a fictional CEO, the learnings apply to leaders at all levels - who are faced with the prospect of either letting go or developing their successor.

I selected this book to focus on the aspect of personal re-invention, re-creation, and re-direction for the professional in terms of moving on with personal development and career planning. It is no secret that there are times and circumstances when a CEO can successfully transfer positions of supervision and/or management where both CEO and company are the true beneficiaries of the succession. This book should be regarded as a personal tool for growth beyond the role. Well done.



JP

More than just about anyone on the planet, Marshall Goldsmith understands how both intra- and inter-personal dynamics influence the leaders who are facing this culminating rite of passage, and how they impact the organizations which have to live with the results.

To the delight of his readers, Goldsmith is as gifted with words as he is with insight. (Unlike so many business management authors, his clarity and simple eloquence resonates with authenticity and allows him to be heard by high-powered leaders who are skeptical of jargon and pseudoscience.)

As an executive coach who works with the founders of their own successful law firms, I give Goldsmith's previous book (What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful) to all of my attorney clients, and it never ceases to amaze me how well they respond to his guidance about what behaviors they have to change in order to become more effective as the leader of their firm (and as the spouse, parent, and friend they want to be for their loved ones). These are tough cookies, used to getting their way and "being right" and exercising power in their day-to-day lives. But they get it and they deeply appreciate Goldsmith's approach. I'm certain those who are facing the question of succession will respond to this new book in the same way.

Whether you're a CEO, a founder, a managing partner (or an executive coach working with someone who is) Succession: Are You Ready? will give you a tremendously helpful four-phase framework for how to manage the process effectively.

This is part of the Memo to the CEO series by the Harvard Business Press, and it is one mighty valuable memo.

Though the title of the book makes its purpose pretty clear (Succession: Are You Ready?), author and executive coach Marshall Goldsmith makes it even clearer on the back of the book by giving specific reasons for the book in a paragraph headed "WHY I WROTE THIS MEMO TO THE CEO."

His reasons are to help CEOs:
Prepare for the transition
Choose a successor
Coach your successor
Pass the baton

So, if you're not a CEO planning to step down soon, or aren't looking for a book to give to a CEO who's planning to step down soon, then this probably isn't the book you're looking for.

This book is well-designed to help executives navigate their own personal issues (by issues I mean feelings, ego, etc) when choosing to step down from a high-powered role in the corporate world. Goldsmith's straightforward writing style and clearly delineated sections makes all the information he's presenting extremely easy to digest and follow. Definitely recommended to anyone looking to make the transition away from an executive position.

"No matter what I do for the rest of my life, it won't matter as much as what I did when I was a CEO," one executive said, describing his wistful feelings as he stepped down from his position. Giving up the reins of corporate power is not easy and preparing your successor for a seamless transition often is even more difficult. Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith tells outgoing CEOs how to handle the often-tricky transition and how to prepare their successors. While it is hardly surprising that a coach advocates coaching, Goldsmith's pithy, concise 125 pages pack in lots of information and advice. getAbstract suggests this easy read to outgoing leaders and their incoming successors.

Harvard Business Press scores another winner with "Succession: Are You Ready?", a book that explores the concept of hanging the blazer up for good, but more importantly, finding the person whom will step into ones former digs.In both scope and writing this book is a timely, welcomed look at those who are willing to risk true leadership; it's a guide for those who recognize that it's time to allow another set come in and steer.

This book in no way advocates simply "stepping aside" to make room for the new generation. On the contrary, author Marshall Goldsmith encourages business executives to live on in the pantheon of their company's accomplishments by assuming the task of finding just the right person to succeed him/her. In this way the executive assures s/he is part of the rough and tumble for years to come. After all, s/he did hand pick the person whom will assume control of the company's destiny.

Written in a "memo" style, this read is literally a little pocketbook. Goldsmith did a fantastic job of leading the way toward a successful journey through the thicket of retirement, graciously offering wisdom and practical advice to the new kid on the block, and making the grand exit, just in time to be revered as a legend. After all, with Goldsmith's help you did select the person whom manages it all so well while making it look incredibly easy.

Organized in the form of memos, this is a great handbook for not only retiring high-level executives, but also managers and leaders. The advice Marshall Goldsmith gives in this book focus on the behavioral elements of transition and leadership, which are probably the most challenging to change or improve upon. The questions that Goldsmith lead readers to consider may all sound very "common sensical", but I think it is useful and helpful to actually see it in print so readers actually consciously think about them.

This is a good handbook to roughly guide CEOs on what to expect or do to make a succession plan successful. However, it is also a nice handbook for leaders and managers who are interested in learning a bit more on how to be a better leader or manager. Simply written without jargon, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving his/her leadership skills.

Goldsmith is extremely qualified to write advice to CEOs on managing themselves and their teams at a personal level. In this very short book, he covers two main topics: how to manage yourself while preparing to leave, and how to coach your successor for a successful handoff.

His advice is concise to a fault. If you want details you will not find them here. But if you want to know an expert's thoughts on what your top priorities should be, and can fill in the details for yourself, you will want this quick read.

The material is mainly relevant for a very senior executive of a large (or at least midsize) organization, who's leaving the company on good terms and has a major chance to shape the succession process. (Especially one who is retiring completely.) If that sounds nothing like you, skip it because there will be little here you can use. If it sounds just like you, this book is an hour well spent and you'd be foolish not to bother.