When to Step Down As a Leader

culled from:wisebread.com

During a reunion with a close friend 25 years after we went through Beast Barracks together, he made two simple statements about his career both in the military and in the private sector.  He knew when it was time to pass the torch and was able to do it with foresight, grace and resolve.

This was foreign to me.  When he had the opportunity to be promoted to Major, he respectfully declined because he knew of his plans to resign his commission.  When he began to feel caught-in-a-rut managing a regional sales office, he took one of his best reps and groomed him for his job allowing him to get back into sales, something he loves to do.  In both situations, I would have most likely taken the promotion or maintained the reigns for no other reason that it would be better to be in a “higher” role should something change.

This caused me to pause.  How could we be so different?

I must be frank and honest that a knee injury caused my premature honorable discharge from the Army so I never commanded a team let alone saw combat.  But that experience has given me a special connection with the men and women I went through basic training with and also provided me the ever-so-small window into a very different life.  That said, I can see that any military service relies on those in command to always assess their ability to complete the task at hand given that the lives of our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters hang in the balance.   But professionally, is it as black or white?

When it is best for the company or for the team I lead, how easy is it to stand aside and allow someone else to take control?  Can I provide my undivided and thoughtful support for the new leader knowing that it’s not my derriere on the line?  How will my leadership see this abdication of power?  A strength?  A weakness?  Lastly, will I have lost career momentum by standing down and pushing someone other than myself?

    When it is best for the company or for the team I lead, how easy is it to stand aside and allow someone else to take control?

These questions have caused me to reflect on leadership and do a little research on influential leaders that have had to step down from one position only to become stronger in another:

1) Nelson Mandela – resigned after one term as president but after almost 50 years of struggle against colonialism and remains an icon of solidarity and equality even after his death.

2) Mikhail Gorbachev – resigned the day the Soviet flag came down and the US recognized Russia and has maintained political influence and has often fought against popular opinion knowing that their democracy is still very fragile.

3) Mohandas Gandhi – resigned as leader of the Congress Party in 1934 (to focus his effort within the rural communities or where India’s poorest lived) only to return at the outbreak of WWII demanding independence for Indian support of England. In 1947, India would not achieve Gandhi’s aspiration of unified independence, but achieved the independent nations of India and Pakistan as a result of the triangular negotiations between the British government, the leaders of the Congress Party and the Muslim League under M.A. Jinnah.  Despite this disappointment to him, it seems poetic that his last great deed was to facilitate peace within his country during the Calcutta riots.

4) Pope Benedict XVI – speculated that when he felt his impact was minimal, he stepped down to allow a new pope to help change the Catholic church and it has been said that he continues to provide Pope Francis assistance in their transition.

5)  Every 2nd term president (save moments of national emergency) – it is wonderful to see these presidential alumni get together because it is clear that they have achieved a mutual respect of their office independent of their political views while in office.

Finding these examples was not as easy as you think because it is easy to find greatness in action but not as easy to find what happened next.  But in each example I did find a story not only of a person whose passion drove them to change something, but also of a person who continued to support that change albeit not from the driver’s seat.  This insight provides me with the knowledge that greatness can come from any seat in the bus.