Bootstrap Leadership Blog

You probably know Catalyst – the highly respected advocacy and research group devoted to the advancement of women in organizational leadership roles.  If you don’t, here’s a quick summary of their history and what they provide in the way of products and services. 

Catalyst was founded in 1962 by Felice N. Schwartz to help women enter the workforce. Five college presidents (from Lawrence, Mills, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, and Wellesley) endorsed the idea of an organization that would work to expand options for women, and formed Catalyst’s first board of directors. 

By 1974, Catalyst was recognizing the need for data – and began building what is today the largest and most referenced data base in the world on the topic of women and work.  Catalyst surveys and research projects serve as a trusted resource for corporate policy makers, scholars, and journalists, and often set the agenda for discussions on the topic of women in leadership roles.

The Catalyst website is a treasure trove of great facts and figures.  From the famous “pyramid” charts that show where women stand today in corporate leadership levels to specific white papers on various research projects, the website is quite literally a living history of women’s leadership in organizations. 

But Catalyst is more than just surveys and data; they provide advisory and benchmarking services, Corporate Board placement services, a Speaker’s Bureau, and tips and advice for women seeking answers to common leadership questions.  They also bestow the prestigious Catalyst Awards – an annual recognition of the top companies in the world that are advancing women in leadership. Since 1987, Catalyst has recognized 74 initiatives at 69 organizations with the Catalyst Award.

Check out their website – it’s a good one to bookmark for a variety of reasons.  For starters, it’s packed with terrific research, and secondly, it’s just a really smart site that role models a passion for an important, worthy initiative. 

A few weeks ago I wrote about peer leadership; here’s another variant of the same idea, with a bit of a twist (and I admit, this one’s a little weird).  Here’s the deal - I’m fascinated by movies where a bunch of people fall victim to some kind of natural disaster or freak accident, because the story inevitably revolves around a central question of leadership: “who are these people going to follow?”  It’s fun to watch as candidates emerge for the leadership role; debates and arguments ensue, people take sides, etc.  Usually the smartest, calmest and most positive voice emerges to lead folks out of harm’s way.

So for years, whenever I was on a team of about 8-10 people, I would start daydreaming during boring staff meetings – “if we were lost at sea, or shipwrecked on a desert island, which one of us would emerge as the leader?”  Have you ever thought about this?  (Please tell me I’m not alone in making up these crazy scenarios).

Here’s what I think is fascinating – only once (in all the teams I’ve been part of) did I ever think that the current “leader” (the boss) would get to keep his or her stature if all bets were off and we were in survival mode.  Nine times out of ten, we’d have turned elsewhere for leadership.  And it’s not just that we were tired of following these people and wanted a change of pace.  It’s totally because they were the “leader” in name only – their position gave them the authority to call the shots at work, but if the organizational structure were to disappear, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell we would have followed these people. 

What does that say about the quality of organizational leadership?  Maybe nothing – there are a lot of reasons that people climb the corporate ladder and assume top leadership roles.  But I’ve always found it to be an interesting fantasy – who in the group would emerge as the leader in a crisis, if all status were stripped away, and we all were equal?  Would it be Susie, because she’s calm and logical?  Would it be Joey?  He seems to have everyone’s respect.  Would it be you?

So here’s a fun little exercise for this week’s staff meeting.  Look around the room, and daydream about the survival/crisis leadership question.  Would the boss still be the leader on the desert island?  If yes, you’re probably working for someone pretty special.  If no, you may be looking at a leader in name only.  And if it is someone else, think about why you’d gravitate to their wisdom and stewardship.  Try to describe why you think they’d emerge as the natural leader. 

What’s the lesson in all of this?  I think it’s that leadership ultimately springs from a deep well of integrity, trust, and respect.  Any of us can be leaders, even if we’re not the boss.  Something to think about the next time your “leader” is driving you crazy - if you could just get the whole team to a desert island…

My friend Larry suggested an intriguing topic that has to do with succession planning – but not the type where organizations get thoughtful about their full slate of leadership talent.  Larry recently retired from his senior marketing executive role in a large company, and now finds himself dabbling in about eight different ventures/hobbies. 

Lately, he’s been inundated with questions from fellow “retiring boomers” who are unsure of how to handle their own personal succession planning as they conclude their current careers. What makes these folks different is that they work for themselves, or have unique jobs.  Larry tells me that, regardless of the nature of their work, their challenges and questions are very immediate and real, and they lack any informed perspective on how to best approach them. For example, there is:

 Tori - who started a non-profit organization 25 years ago.  As she considers retirement, she faces past investors who are wondering why they should continue to contribute to the cause.

Bob - who is a CPA with a client base that is loyal to him. He feels he needs to provide a two year notice to his clients and partners and then phase himself out of the business, but doesn’t know where to start.

Karen - an independent contractor who sees her business on the wane and doesn't know if it is time to stop, how to stop, whether to close her business or attempt to sell it to someone else.

Bill - who is the founder of a small but successful advertising agency who wants it to continue to succeed but hesitates to give up control.

George - the first and only pastor for a church who doesn’t think he should be involved in identifying his successor, but also realizes that his lack of involvement may risk the future of the church and its membership. 

As Larry points out, there are millions of other baby boomers starting to face similar challenges.  What should they do?  Unlike big companies, smaller organizations or self-run businesses don’t have a deep bench of talent.  How do they identify a successor?  When and how do they communicate their plans to retire?   How do they effectively transition responsibility to others to ensure long term success? 

They answers aren’t easy, and they’re probably unique for every situation.  But some lessons from large companies probably do apply.  First, they have to be honest with themselves about their situation (just as corporations have to be candid about their own leadership needs).  Second, they need to consider alternative paths to the final answer.  What are their options?  It’s probably a good idea to plot at least 2-3 scenarios and solicit feedback from trusted friends or colleagues (companies often “horse race” several candidates for the same role).  Third, they need a planful transition – an overlap with their successor (3-6 months is typical in some firms).  Fourth, because their own passion for the job or organization is usually very strong, they might also make it clear to others that they’ll be staying involved as an advisor (retirees as mentors is popular in many organizations). 

There’s no simple solution.  But if retiring boomers brainstorm a few different courses of action and gather input from a variety of sources, chances are they’ll make the right decision, for themselves and their businesses or organizations.  Larry’s right about one thing – this is something that’s going to gather steam over the next 10 years (I’m sure there are niche consultants gearing up as we speak to capture this very market).  As for Larry and I – a tip of the hat to everyone who’s been successful enough to get to this square on the game board… good for you.  Now, start applying the same smarts, guts and judgment to your succession planning that you brought to your careers.  We’re confident you can do it!