• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Valize
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
Rita McGrath Group

Rita McGrath

Author. Speaker. Consultant.

  • Home
  • Learn About Rita
  • Work with Rita
  • Rita’s Work
    • Podcast
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Articles
    • Press
  • Thought Sparks
  • Events

January 24, 2008

When Yesterday’s Leaders Can’t Lead Tomorrow’s Business-some ideas from Doz & Kosonen

One of the enduring dilemmas of any successful business is that there will inevitably come a time when those who led the great success of the past will be faced with the erosion of what made the past so successful, and the need to develop new capabilities, skills, market positions and the like.  Often, such a shift is deeply threatening to these former leaders, setting in place all kinds of dysfunctional behavior throughout the organization and ultimately hampering its ability to effectively mobilize around new opportunities.  But what can you do?  These folks are often very respected, have deep internal networks, are seen as representative of the company to outsiders and have considerable formal and informal authority. 

An interesting idea for how to deal with this is in Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen’s brand-new book Fast Strategy.  The book is getting great reviews for its practical but novel ways of thinking about strategic agility. 

The excerpt that caught my attention is on page 91-92, as follows:image

Letting the “Old Heroes” move on gracefully

The way in which high-powered executives move out from the core team in connection to top team renewal matters greatly.  A graceful exit or transfer of those core team members who have naturally outgrown the new organization is very important.  These executives have typically served the company successfully for many years and people across the organization have great respect for them and want to see them treated well.  Yet they can seldom continue in the new top team, particularly if the new CEO comes from inside the company.  It is difficult to chnage well-established interaction patterns with an ex-peer and, secondly, these executives have typically outgrown those roles that are available in the new organization. 

They would simply not start from an equal basis with the rest of the new team, which, again, would harm the team-building efforts described earlier.  Furthermore, accepting a smaller and less meaningful role is not motivating and would not look respectful and credible in the eyes of the organization. 

It is therefore very important to link the retirement or transfer of senior executives to changes in the market place and the subsequent top team renewal.  This way there is a ntural business reason for the change and it happens to several key people at the same time.  people in the organization understand these reasons and hence transferring loyalty from an old leadership to a new top team is easier. 

Filed Under: Business Strategy

Primary Sidebar

Previous Sparks

  • 2023
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2022
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2021
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • July
    • June
    • April
    • March
  • 2017
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • March
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • October
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • June
    • April
    • March
    • February
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • April
    • March

Topics

  • Academic Concerns
  • Articles
  • Business School
  • Business Start Ups / Entrepreneurship
  • Business Strategy
  • Careers
  • Case Studies and Applications
  • Checkpoints
  • Competition
  • Complexity
  • Customer insight
  • Digital
  • Discovery Driven Planning
  • Event Announcements
  • Executive Education
  • Friday Fireside Chat
  • Fun
  • Growth
  • Growth Options / Real Options
  • Individuals
  • Innovation
  • Innovation Flops
  • Innovation Maturity Scale
  • Insights and ideas
  • Jobs
  • Leadership
  • News Archives
  • Opportunities
  • Profitable Organic Growth
  • Reviews
  • Seeing Around Corners
  • Strategy Dynamics
  • Strategy Execution
  • Technology
  • Thought Sparks
  • Tools
  • Transient Advantage
  • Uncategorized
  • Valize
  • Videos
  • Women's leadership

Footer

For Subscribers

  • Opportunity Portfolio Toolkit
  • Seeing Around Corners Workshop Guide
  • Get Premium Content with Thought Sparks!

Connect with Rita

Rita McGrath Group
P.O. Box 7286
Princeton, NJ 08543

  • © Copyright 2004-2023 Rita McGrath Group. All Rights Reserved.
  • • Privacy Policy
  • Created with ✨ by Moxie Design Studios
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Scroll Up