Lessons Learned from CEO Transitions

It happened again last week. On my first day back from vacation, I walked into the Monday morning Senior Leadership Team meeting and learned that our CEO had turned in his resignation. This announcement meant that I will now be working for my fourth CEO in just eleven months! Least you think that our company is in financial trouble, you need to know that: our sales are growing, we are profitable, we are the market leader in two of our three lines of business, and we have arguably one of the best brand recognitions in the environmental services space. So this blog entry is not about what one can learn in the midst of downsizing an organization or managing an IT department in the midst of chaos. Rather, it is about what I am learning in the midst of repetitive changes in who sits in the CEO chair. While there are many lessons that can (and have been learned), let me share just three of the more pertinent:

1. Seize the Initiative and Never Relinquish It
With any CEO change, the CIO will have to re-introduce themselves, prove themselves, and/or re-justify themselves. That re-introduction includes your position, your Department, your strategy, your past accomplishments, your past failures, and your present challenges. That is why you must seize the initiative and never relinquish it. Do not allow others in the organization (Board members, fellow reports to the CEO, etc.) to “define” yourself or your Department. Make a strong “first” impression with the new CEO. Provide him/her with a notebook. This notebook should provide an overview of the Department, its accomplishments, its strategy, and its spend (amongst other things). Emphasize how IT is working with the Business to increase revenues, decrease expenses, increase efficiency, and diminish risks. Make sure that the CEO sees you as being a strategy leader and not a technology leader. Make sure that they see you are part of the “solution” and not part of the problem.

2. The Value of Alliances
In nature, lone wolves live shorter lives than those who belong to a pack. Allying with others increases your influence with the new CEO and protects your back side. Remember (as Bob Lewis writes in “A Manifesto for 21st Century Information Technology”) that your peers are either allies, neutrals, or opponents. As such, you always need to: 1) maximize the number of allies, 2) convert as many neutrals to allies as possible, 3) convert as many opponents to neutrals as possible, and 4) avoid turning any opponents into enemies. Those investments will pay huge dividends during these times of CEO transition.

3. Focus on the Task at Hand
It is very easy during a CEO transition to freeze and await new marching orders. Don’t! Focus on the task at hand. Your war will not be won by strategy alone. Your war will be won by hard, desperate, hand-to-hand fighting. Make sure that you keep the engine room running, the car operating on eight cylinders, or whatever analogy you prefer. Avoid major conflicts in the form of quarrels and arguments. You simply don’t have time for it. Everywhere you go, at every conceivable opportunity, reaffirm, reassert, and remind everyone that you are keeping your eye on the ball (another one of those analogies).