Taking over from a founder-CEO: Why it goes wrong and how to get it right
Update: July 2019. This article seems to have resonated with many founders. If you’d like some help with your own situation, you can book a free 30 minute video call with me.
This article is one of the themes in my book Work with Source: Realise big ideas, organise for emergence and work artfully with money.
If you’ve ever experienced a thriving founder-led initiative — from companies, to non-profits — you’ll know that the person who started it has a special and unique relationship with the endeavour. Their connection to the the initiative runs much deeper than their formal job title such as CEO, so special attention needs to be given to succession when they eventually leave.
If a succession process only happens at the level of the formal responsibilities of a CEO, and this deeper connection is not also given the care and attention it needs, there are some predictable and potentially disastrous consequences.
Fortunately, it’s possible to tend to this deeper level as part of the succession process, allowing a founder to truly move on in a way that’s natural for them, and for an incoming leader to find flow in their new role.
A handy lens to look at the special role of founders
Alongside their formal leadership role as CEO, there’s a separate, vital role that a founder plays. Think of it as a creative and energy-giving role that binds the initiative together. Peter Koenig who has been studying this phenomenon for many years calls it the ‘role of source’.
There’s only ever one person in this role, even if there are multiple co-founders. The source is the first person who invested themselves in realising the idea at the very start. If you sensitively tune into the dynamic within an initiative or examine its history, you can identify the individual in this role.
Sensing the next step for an initiative as a whole
Koenig uses a metaphor that it’s as if there’s an ‘information channel from the universe’ about the initiative. The source alone is on the receiving end. Through this information channel flows insight about what’s in and out of scope and what the next step for the initiative as a whole is.
In reality, this information comes from deep listening, as the source tunes into their own need or impulse which gave rise to the initiative; by listening to colleagues; and many other sources of information. Whilst it’s a centralised role, there is huge scope to tap into the collective intelligence of the whole group to gather insight. The key thing is that the source must take responsibility for this process.
The role of source can be mistaken as that of an old-school dictator, or ‘hero entrepreneur’, but a good source is more like a ‘vulnerable visionary’. When a source fully stands in this role, they develop a unique and deep sense of knowing for their initiative about what’s in, what’s out, and what needs to happen next.
Finally, it’s important to note that the role of source isn’t appointed. You can’t have an election or formal recruitment process to decide who gets the role, nor can it be sold when the legal ownership of a company is passed on. The role of source is naturally occurring. Just like you can’t decide who is the mother of a child — it’s simply the person who gave birth.
Succession of the role of source
Just as the formal role of CEO can be handed from one person to another, the role of source can also be passed on through a succession process. When this happens successfully, the ‘information channel’ moves from the old source to someone new.
However, it doesn’t happen automatically when someone new becomes CEO and the source leaves the formal organisation or sells their shares. Think of the role of source as operating on a separate, deeper plane, and the succession of this part needs to be given special attention.
If the role of source hasn’t been considered, we can make some confident predictions about the unhelpful dynamics which will play out. We can also cut through the confusion and blame which unfortunately follows a failed succession process. It’s nobody’s fault, there was just a lack of awareness about what was happening at this deeper level.
Let’s look at four common scenarios. Perhaps you’re facing one of these right now, or you’re at risk of this happening in a succession you’re involved in.
Scenario 1: When the new CEO doesn’t also hold the role of source
It’s common for there to be a succession of the formal CEO role, but not the role of source.
If the incoming CEO is expecting to fully stand in their authority over the initiative, they will find it incredibly difficult. The original founder, not them, will still be on the receiving end of the information channel. The highest level information about what the initiative is really all about, and where it’s heading won’t come to them.
The symptoms of a new CEO trying to take charge when they are not the source are predictable: Watch out for a drift towards either an overly authoritarian style in an attempt to exert their will, or a swing to the opposite extreme with endless consensus-seeking and watering down of the vision. In my work as an advisor, I’ve seen situations where a company bounces back and forth between the two extremes with a succession of CEOs, never addressing the role of source issue.
In both cases it causes good people to leave and the focus on a clear, creative vision to which people naturally want to contribute is diminished.
Scenario 2: The meddling founder
Sometimes an outgoing founder just can’t stop themselves from meddling after the new CEO takes over. They clearly haven’t handed over the role of source.
Watch out for a founder who says: I’m handing over to the new CEO, but I’ll always be the founder and I’ll stay on to offer guidance to the new CEO as they continue the journey. That’s a sign they aren’t ready to pass on the role of source.
Even after the new CEO takes office, other colleagues still look to the old founder when it comes to the deepest matters of getting clear on vision, values, and high-level direction. The new CEO will struggle to find their place in the new order of things. They may well give up and leave (or be fired), blaming themselves or the old founder for the confusion.
The new CEO may also find themselves deferring to the founder for key decisions. That’s fine if both of them want that relationship, but in many cases they are not clear about it, and a power struggle unfolds.
Scenario 3: The long-gone source
It’s fascinating to observe how persistent the role of source is. Even if a founder left the formal organisation many years previously, Koenig observed in his research that the role of source stays with them indefinitely until it is passed on. They might think they’ve left, but, using Koenig’s metaphor, the ‘information channel’ is still connected to them and nobody else.
Once again, this leads to those extremes of authoritarian or death-by-consensus leadership. And it can also leave a power vacuum where others compete for dominance.
Interestingly, the outgoing founder can also find it difficult to fully invest themselves in new initiatives or to switch off and enjoy their new freedom, perhaps in retirement. It’s as though a significant portion of their headspace or energy is still occupied by the initiative, even though they think they’ve left it. Sometimes they watch from a distance as their initiative loses its way. They can see what needs to happen more clearly than anyone else, but they might be unsure about whether to intervene or how to do it.
Scenario 4: A drift from creativity to a focus on money
The best companies and non-profits are, at their core, creative endeavours. There’s a vision to bring something meaningful into the world or to change something.
When a creative initiative is in full flow, with a source holding the space for the vision to be realised, it has a powerful force of attraction. It attracts the resources it needs including people and money. There’s a feeling of vitality.
When an initiative becomes disconnected from its natural, creative vision, a focus on money often becomes its substitute. This can work for a while but as the company becomes less creative, it becomes harder to attract the resources it needs. The best, most creative people leave to start new ventures or join other initiatives that have more life in them. These creative people are often sometimes replaced by high-salary mercenaries who are themselves following the money, not a creative vision.
Over the long term, the focus on money can perversely make a company more financially precarious. Some of the best examples of this are once-vibrant technology superstars who become large, public companies. After the founder leaves, a new CEO tries to please Wall Street. Microsoft under Steve Ballmer was just like this. They dwindle, perhaps never to return to their former glory. Interestingly, in that case, Bill Gates (the source) returned to Microsoft and appointed a new CEO, Satya Nadella to help him realise a creative vision once more. It appears as though, finally, Gates handed over not just formal responsibility but the deeper role of source for Microsoft, and the company has a new lease of life.
How to fix things when it’s gone wrong
To summarise, the problematic symptoms to look out for are: power struggles; authoritarianism; death-by-consensus; a focus on money not vision; a lost CEO; or a founder who just can’t let go.
In every case, the starting point to fix the issue is to look deeper than the formal org chart and formal ownership and identify who is in the role of source today. You can do this by investigating the founding story to identify who took the first risk to start the whole thing. Look to see if there have been any clear successions of the role of source in the past. Fascinatingly, you’ll find that when this happens, both the outgoing and incoming source remember the precise moment when it passed between them. Think of it as a rite of passage that will have been a meaningful moment for both. If it’s unclear then it likely didn’t happen.
With a some experience of working from the perspective of source, you can also learn to intuit who is the source simply by listening to people. In many (but not all) instances the source is not the person seen as the charismatic leader, but they might be a more vulnerable, quieter, person in the background yet whose voice seems to have more authority when they talk about the most fundamental issues of vision and values.
The source may even have left the organisation some time ago. It’s worth going to find them. When you explain what’s going wrong, they’ll often surprise you with their insight about what needs to happen next.
If the source can acknowledge themselves as holding this vital role, they can begin to take responsibility for it again. This might mean stepping back in to provide critical guidance like Bill Gates did at Microsoft, or it might mean they can complete a hand-over of source to a natural successor who will take responsibility.
It’s not essential for the formal CEO or top leader to also hold the role of source, in fact the more executive leadership role often suits someone other than the source. But if the original source leaves and a new CEO didn’t also assume the role of source when they stepped up, the succession can happen later. They might need to be prepared for this role over a period of time if they are not yet ready. The main thing to focus on in this process is the long-standing values of the initiative. When the old source feels like the successor ‘gets it’ and senses they will honour the values and take full responsibility, there’s a good chance they will willingly let go, and the new source can step into the role. It can feel like a special, almost magical moment that neither will forget.
How to avoid these problems in the first place
If you’re reading this in the run-up to a founder leaving, you can avoid any of these problems happening in the first place. Here’s what you need to consider.
When the founder moves on, one of two things needs to happen: 1) The outgoing founder prepares themselves to fully hand over the role of source as well as the formal CEO role, perhaps even to different people; or 2) They agree with the new CEO that as founder they will remain in the highest level visionary position and continue to guide the initiative, with the new CEO effectively being a very high-level operational leader. The founder could also hand over the role of source to a third person who will provide this guidance to the new CEO.
Any greyness between these clear options will eventually result in the problematic scenarios we’ve covered.
The succession will only work if everyone directly involved is happy with the deal. Many incoming CEOs also want to take on the role of source and assume they will do so automatically, not realising it’s something separate. They may not want a senior operations role, and that’s going to cause problems if the old source doesn’t want to let go.
The key is to manage the whole situation lovingly and naturally. Nothing should be forced upon or away from anyone — it never works out well. Allow the new order to emerge in its own way. Nurture the solution. If you can stay conscious and aware of what’s happening at this deeper level of source, it can all unfold graciously.
Family businesses — the natural masters of source
Even if they haven’t worked with source as explicitly as I have laid out in this article, family businesses often seem to do it naturally.
A grandmother retires, and she knows she’s passing her child something more significant, sacred even, than simply some shares and a prestigious job title. They naturally create ceremony around the succession. Perhaps they take a walk together and sit on the same bench on a hill as grandmother did with her own mother, the original founder, a generation ago. They talk lovingly about the creative initiative which is being passed on, and its timeless values. There’s a moment when they both feel like something energetically passes between them. The grandmother has let go. The new source is in and they are both changed by the experience. The initiative will enter a new phase, with a new vision, yet with the historical thread maintained.
How companies can last for centuries
Peter Koenig likes to tell a story about the oldest company in the world, a firm of Japanese temple builders who have been around for over 800 years. When someone in the current generation was asked the secret of building a company that can last not just generations, but centuries, their answer was simple:
“A business can last forever if it is passed from hand, to hand, to hand.”
I’m Tom Nixon - a coach and advisor to creative founders. You can book a free 30 minute video call with me to discuss your situation, or send me a message.
Read more about the role of source in my book Work with Source: Realise big ideas, organise for emergence and work artfully with money.
I’m also the founder of Maptio, an online tool to visualise purposeful initiatives — the modern alternative to an org chart. Try it for free.
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