New CEOs: Why So Many Fail

This is kind of a continuation about the apprenticeship stuff I was talking about earlier. A lot of people come to school with big dreams of becoming a CEO one day, but how does one get meaningful on-the-job training for that?

“One … study found that almost half of US companies with more than $500 million dollars of annual revenue had no meaningful succession plan,” says Charan. And when CEOs fail? ”The direct and indirect costs of this to both individual companies and the economy as a whole are simply enormous.”

Charan says any board or company that fails to put in place a decent succession plan is ignoring one of their most important responsibilities. At minimum, the board should ensure that at least two sessions a year are devoted to reviewing a minium of five potential candidates – both internal and external.

He also observes, in my view very importantly, that in preparing executives for the next big job, a classroom is not a management development program. Executives need real experience. ”Management training develops awareness, provides tools and resources, and helps people develop strong professional networks, but the real learning occurs on the job.”

So, the next time you see a CEO bail out with a $45 million parachute, just remember that it is probably a training issue.

The Apprentice

Do we take the time to become an apprentice anymore? Sure, there are particular lines of work that require apprenticeships, such as unionized trades and getting a job on Donald Trump’s TV show, but how many careers require you to put in time with an expert learning the business you’re trying to get into? Very few, and I’m not sure if it’s because college doesn’t prepare you enough for the real world or there aren’t enough internship or co-op opportunities out there… or maybe because a lot of people just don’t want to put the time in to be an apprentice. They want to make $70,000+ as soon as they graduate.

It took me three years out of college as a “technical writer” before I found a job where I was able to learn from an actual professional writer. Although he was a bit difficult to deal with, he was honest about my work and helped me discover a writing style that fit the line of work I was in and was useful to employers. I truly believe that those lessons I learned from apprenticing those few short months helped to build the foundation of the personal and professional writing work I have been exposed to today, as well as the doors they have opened.

So, while the term “apprentice” seem somehwat old fashioned or stir up images of Mickey Mouse running around in a magic hat while chased by mops and brooms, I think it is a practice that we need to get back to using. Spiritually, we call this discipleship.

In the Bible, a good example of an apprentice is Joshua. We remember Joshua for marching around the wall of Jericho. He also had some important responsibilities as a spy (Num. 13:16) and as a warrior (Ex. 17:10). But he was often in the shadow of someone else—Moses. For 40 years, Joshua served as Moses’ assistant, aide, and apprentice (Ex. 24:13).