There’s the dream that originally convinced you to join, still recognizable but frayed. There’s a lot less romance in quitting an executive job. In one, where the individual reported to me, they threw a piece of paper at my face, where they’d signed their name beneath a brief message, “I quit, effectively immediately.” In both cases, I unironically appreciated their momentary clarity with the situation. They went into a meeting, got upset, and quit immediately. I’ve seen two people legitimately rage quit their jobs. There’s a certain romance to abruptly quitting a job. So many companies would do well to consider the talent they already have. Without this proactive work, it likely won’t be seriously considered, which is a shame: Ultimately, who replaces you won’t be your decision, it’s the CEOs, but doing a small amount of ongoing prep work will make an internal transition possible.
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Go on at least one long vacation each year (aim for two weeks, if you can), and explicitly delegate your roles across your team rather than slowing things down.Įven if mistakes are made, they’ll be learning mistakes For example, I’ve seen a number of companies where the engineering leadership team alternates running their weekly team meeting rather than the engineering executive While it’s hard to displace yourself from executive-only or board meetings, almost everything else is possible. For each, can you delegate it to someone on your team? If it’s not something you can delegate, partner with them to improve on whatever is missing before they could be effective in that forum. For the one or two with the best chance of eventually succeeding into your role, facilitate them building a relationship with the CEOĮvery quarter, run an audit of the recurring meetings you attend. In performance reviews, think about what your direct reports are missing to thrive in your role, and give them at least one of those areas to focus on in each reviewĪs they make those improvements, talk to the CEO about the growth you’re seeing in your team. This planning doesn’t need to be anything heavy:
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I was fortunate to lead a collaborative team who worked together well in my absence, but that wasn’t an accident, it was the byproduct of ongoing succession planning. Certainly, I never imagined I would have a stroke in my mid-thirties, with an infant at home, but then I did. Even if you intend to remain at your current company forever, life comes at you fast. However, in a smooth departure, the first step happens years earlier: building the team to support your eventual transition out of the business. In a literal sense, deciding to leave your job is the first step in departing.
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This is an unedited chapter from O’Reilly’s The Engineering Executive’s Primer.
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Sometimes one of the executives can’t navigate the switch, and will keep ranting throughout their meal. Initiatives are behind, layoffs are happening everywhere, the team is in disarray. If two friendly executives meet for dinner, it’s likely they start by exchanging just how messed up things are at work.