Succession Planning: Build the Bench Before Anyone Knows You Need It

When Steve Jobs handed the CEO role to Tim Cook in August 2011, Jobs died six weeks later. Cook inherited one of the world’s most valuable companies with almost no runway—no public transition, no overlap, no road map. The succession worked only because Cook had quietly been running operations for years at Apple. The handoff was an emergency dressed up as a plan.

Recently, Tim Cook will step down from Apple and John Ternus – Apple's 51-year-old head of hardware engineering and a 25-year veteran will take over.

The transition, Apple said, follows “a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process” and was approved unanimously by the board.  

Do you have a thoughtful, long-terms succession plan in process at your business?  Most leaders avoid it.  The reason leaders avoid this conversation isn’t laziness. It’s ... read on.

Giving Feedback As a Leader

Giving negative feedback is a critical component of effective leadership — but while the benefits of receiving constructive criticism are clear, it’s less obvious how giving such feedback impacts leaders. While some leaders enjoy giving negative feedback (I'm not one), one survey found that 44% of managers find it stressful or difficult. 

Here are several strategies for organizations to better support both high- and low-empathy leaders, including encouraging more-empathetic leaders to take breaks after giving negative feedback and training less-empathetic leaders on techniques for delivering feedback more compassionately.