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Succession Planning & Leadership Development

Rita Bornstein, Ph.D.Rollins College, President Emerita & Cornell Professor of Philanthropy and LeadershipAGB Board of Directors

www.agb.org

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• Searches will take longer

• Candidates younger & less experienced

• More non-academics

• Fewer women & minorities

• Longer presidential tenures

• Increased presidential job-hopping

Implications of Current Trends

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• Short term: Illness, family emergency, etc.

• Long term: Recruited away, incapacitated, retirement

Problems in the Presidency

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READY FOR A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP?

• Prepared to launch an effective search?

• Identified needed presidential qualities?

• Identified potential internal candidates?

• Considered appointing internal candidate without search?

• Aware of obligations to a new president?

Ready for Change?

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• Institutional SWOT analysis

• Leadership criteria

• Search process (committee, consultant)

• Assimilation process

• Development of internal candidates

Plan: Written, reviewed at least annually; all trustees involved.

The Succession Plan

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• Survey: Just 41% of sitting presidents said they were well prepared for their 1st presidential position.

• Underprepared in: Fundraising, lobbying, budgeting & financial management, board relations, pace of job, dealing with faculty.

• Sink or swim

Leadership Development: The Need

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• Content: History, organization, financing, governance of higher education.

• Managing people.

• Managing change.

• Ethical decision making.

• Presidential responsibilities.

• Innovative, collaborative, integral leadership

Leadership Development: The Program

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• Mentoring

• Shadowing

• Coaching

• New challenges & projects

• Opportunities to lead groups

• Feedback

Leadership Development: The Experience

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Provide guidance & support on:

• Succession planning

• Search

• Assimilation

• Leadership programs

• Individualized leadership plans

Role of Human Resources

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• Bias against insiders: Liability of familiarity

• Preference for national search

• Data: Insiders do better in CEO role

• Corporations: Over 50% of new executives hired from outside leave within three years

• Higher education: Insiders have higher rates of retention & success

• Forgoing national search

Internal Candidates

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• Jim Collins, Good to Great:

“Larger than life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively correlated with going from good to great.”

Beware Charismatic Outsiders

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• Unprepared boards: Haste, failed search, poor choice, unhappy constituents, harms institutional reputation, reduces confidence in board.

• Prepared boards: Smooth transition, new president accepted by constituents, enhances institutional reputation, builds confidence in board.

Consequences