New York, USA.- The risk of avoiding this question is playing out in Washington right now. And while the fate of the free world might not depend on the answer for most of us, the future of our companies and our coworkers might.
If an honest assessment reveals a missed step, it might mean making small adjustments, such as cutting hours. Or it might require handing over the reins. The worst course of action is to do nothing.
Leadership and cognitive decline are pressing issues across the aging U.S. workforce. High-level professionals are increasingly working past traditional retirement age, even as age discrimination pushes others to leave their careers early. There will be twice as many workers over age 75 in 2030 than in 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects.
And these aren’t just rank-and-file workers; they’re the people who run companies. More than half of private companies in the United States are owned by people over 55, according to research by Project Equity, a nonprofit that advocates for employee input into corporate succession plans.
Himanshu Palsule, CEO of professional development firm Cornerstone, used to fly overnight to Bengaluru, India, check into his hotel for a shower, then show up at his company’s satellite office for a full day of work with virtually no sleep.
Now, such a grueling itinerary would leave him dead.
Palsule, 60, says he is unwilling to invite the comments that would come if he fell asleep in a meeting or made a verbal gaffe. So he now starts international travel a day early to get enough sleep and takes naps to combat jet lag.
Strategy helps you perform better and ensures that there is no reason to question whether you are up to the job.
“If someone makes a mistake or stumbles while trying to remember a fact, questions immediately arise about cognitive problems,” he says of the scrutiny surrounding executives.
Lead or leave
Knowing when to say goodbye is often difficult for ambitious people who have spent their lives moving forward.
Sandra Day O’Connor, the late Supreme Court justice, seemed to do better than most. O’Connor, who revealed in 2018 that she had dementia, looked as healthy as ever when she announced her retirement in 2005 at age 75.
The drama surrounding Pat Bowlen, the oil and construction magnate best known as the former owner of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, highlights the dangers of continuing.
Bowlen suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for several years before stepping down from day-to-day decision-making and placing the team in a trust in 2014, his wife and brother say. A legal dispute centering on Bowlen’s capacity when he named nonfamily members as trustees led to the Broncos being sold in 2022, three years after his death.
The stakes are high when a leader begins to falter, so it’s critical to have people within a company who can step in before it’s too late, says Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and a board member at Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren.
He recalls one instance when he felt compelled to ask what was going on with another board member who was not acting as usual. Joly’s gentle approach led his colleague to reveal a serious health problem that was affecting his performance. With treatment, the person returned to normal.
Ideally, executives self-determine when to resign.
Joly says that’s what happened when Ralph Lauren moved from CEO to executive chairman and creative director of his clothing company in 2015, at age 75. The directors never had to have an awkward exit conversation with Lauren, who remains active in the business to this day. But they would have felt compelled to do so if the founder had wavered and refused to acknowledge it.
“The board is there to oversee, and even if the company is Ralph Lauren and his name is on the building, you can still have very respectful dialogues,” Joly says.
Passing the baton
Artificial intelligence tools being developed in academic labs from Boston to San Francisco aim to detect, and even predict, mental stumbles years in advance. For now, board members, spouses and confidants are often among the few who can tell an executive it’s time to hand over the reins.
In small, privately held or family-owned businesses, the handover is particularly complicated because there is less oversight — and often more emotion — than in public companies. And succession planning often takes longer than people expect, notes Scott Snider, president of the Exit Planning Institute, which has about 7,000 advisers in the U.S. who help companies prepare for new chapters.
Arthur Brooks, author of “Intelligent Maturity,” a best-selling book about the second half of life, suggests getting started before anyone tells you to.
“Letting go requires careful planning and thought so you’re not the last to realize things, when it can be bitter and destructive,” he says. “Plan to leave sooner than necessary, with a little left in the tank.”
Julie Charlestein, fourth-generation CEO of Premier Dental Products in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., says it took her years to come up with a succession plan before she finally took over from her father in 2016. She was head of the company’s business development division when talks began. Agreeing on an ownership structure was tricky, with children and grandchildren to consider.
“It involved a lot of negotiation – a lot of difficulties, honestly – and a lot of differences of opinion,” he says.
She turned down her father’s initial offer to name her president while he remained CEO, because she felt it was a promotion in name only. She later agreed to become president with a more robust job description and is now president and CEO.
Her changes at the company include creating a board of directors made up of non-family members. Charlestein, 52, says she wants straightforward people who will give her advice, hold her accountable and, if necessary, one day show her the door.
Editing of the original article
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