My RSS Feed is a Thinker and blog is #1 for online personal brand thoughts. Dan Schawbel is Gen Y and geared to Gen Y personal brand, but you will benefit regardless of generation. He has Just Posted the Following on his blog:

Today, I spoke with Marshall Goldsmith, whose been featured on this blog before and in the current issue of Personal Branding Magazine.* Marshall is a huge advocate for personal branding, as he’s spent his career building the brands of Fortune 500 CEO’s.* His latest book is called Succession: Are you Ready and in this interview, he gives us a advice for figuring out who should take your place when you leave.

How should a CEO setup his or her succession plan?* What leadership characteristics should they look for?

The leadership characteristics of the new CEO should fit the projected needs of the organization in the future – not the needs of the past.* Current CEOs should try to avoid the trap of selecting candidates who remind them of themselves!

If you were to select someone to succeed you (if you were a CEO), who would it be and why?

I am not a CEO, so it is hard to say.* If I were to select someone to replace me as an executive coach, teacher and writer, I would select someone who loved the work, was very future focused, had a mind of his/her own and was willing to learn and change.

What happens when you select the wrong person to replace you before you leave your organization?* What are the top 3 disasters that can happen?

  1. When you stick with a bad choice, just because you selected the person.* Better to ‘swallow your pride’ and move to another candidate.
  2. When the candidate is great at self-promotion – but is really not that interested in the long-term success of the company.* I have seen this happen too much.
  3. When the world changes and the right candidate suddenly becomes the wrong candidate – possibly through no fault of his/her own.
Can you give one example of a succession plan that has been successful in the past couple of decades?

I will give you two:

  • Frances Hesselbein leaving the Girl Scouts of the USA.* She made the announcement long in advance, left while people still wanted her to stay and ‘got out of the way’ gracefully.
  • Harvey Golub leaving American Express.* He actually left before he was supposed to – to ensure that the right person would not leave and would take the job.
What types of people become CEO’s?* Is it usually the CFO?* CMO?

This depends upon the company and industry. In most cases the CEO comes from the core business of the company.* Technical people lead high-tech companies, marketing people lead marketing companies and financial people lead finance companies.* However, this is not always the case.* There are many positive examples where great CEOs have come from outside the core discipline of the company.

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Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders get even better – by achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams.* His latest book is called Succession: Are You Ready? and his previous book was called What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is a New York Times best seller, Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman award for Best Business Book of the Year.* It has been translated into 23 languages and is a listed best seller in six different countries.* The American Management Association named Dr. Goldsmith as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years.** He teaches executive education at Dartmouth’s Tuck School and frequently speaks at leading business schools.

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