When very successful executives find their position eliminated it naturally triggers introspection. What could I have done differently? Did I let my people down? Why me? Was it me, or the circumstances?

More and more it has nothing to do with the skills, style, or even accomplishments of the executive. Sometimes the trigger is a merger or acquisition. External market conditions can force compression of roles. Boards today have greater impatience and accountability to make sure the right person is in the key slot for today’s challenges. But sometimes the trigger for elimination of their role is corporate exfoliation!

Exfoliation is an odd word here — originally it refers to the natural process we are about to experience this fall, as trees lose their leaves to make way for the new cycle of growth. Corporate exfoliation, though, is forced change that happens in any season giving the appearance that “we have a plan” to buy time. It has an added strategy of removing potential successors. If you become a natural part of a corporate growth cycle, or are simply a pawn in your company’s attempt to appear to be on top of a problem by making changes, you will wish you had a plan ready to execute to turn the personal impact and problem into an opportunity of your own.

I experienced a major episode of corporate exfoliation while at IBM. John Akers was the CEO, share prices were dropping because profits were shrinking in the hardware business, analysts did not see as bright a future, and John was becoming desperate. When that happens, buying time by reorganizing people and roles is a common strategy. In this situation it was deemed that no product division should have more than seven people at headquarters. A new headquarters had just been completed to foster teamwork and integrate product planning — and now all but seven people from each division were relocated to plants and labs. The “solution” did not address the core problem — but did create a lot of movement and chaos when crisp thinking and urgent actions were desperately needed.

The latest example of corporate exfoliation appears to have occurred at Bank of America where, in corporate-speak, they are “de-layering.” According to the Economist, de-layering describes the reduction from the top-heavy organizational charts of the 1950s to more streamlined management teams. It’s questionable whether such a term can be applied, writes The Economist, to what Moynihan is doing at Bank of America. Heidi Moore tells the story in this lively “tell it like it is” article where she coins the exfoliation term:

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/wallstreet/2011/09/executive-level_exfoliation_at.html

My point is that, in working with hundreds of executives going through job change, I have seen very talented and accomplished leaders go through the agony of questioning how they failed and what they could have done differently to keep their positions. In some situations the answer is truly nothing. In most situations the executive may have been 25% of the trigger — but circumstances were 75%. It is crucial to accept that other circumstances were the trigger. “Hard on the problem, but easy on the person” is a productive approach to accepting fate and moving forward under these circumstances. That approach, and having a career plan that excites you, are key to moving quickly into a productive and focused chapter two.

— Jim Deupree

Most of the senior executives ChapterTwo^® helps acknowledge that their careers have really been guided by saying yes or no to opportunities presented to them.  They have not paused along the way to set their own compass. In most cases the result has been a sequence of promotions and enviable career success.  Tom’s story is typical. He started his career as a Tupperware franchisee.  His territory was a small corner of the midwest, where there were no tall buildings and very few cars made outside of Detroit.  Despite that modest territory he became the third largest producer in the United States.  Tupperware bought him out, and made him a company Vice President before he was 30.  He invested the money wisely, and kept climbing the ladder.  Eventually he was a Senior Vice President — and newly divorced.

So what’s the problem?

• For some the problem has already occurred — in the form of divorce, health risks related to stress and challenges with children.  Success has come at a significant price.

• For others the problem is lurking on the horizon.  It is a growing recognition that while the perks and recognition have their appeal, the price of leadership may be too high for them.  They begin to feel trapped by their success — smiling for the cameras but not inside.

As I and my team worked with hundreds of senior executives over the past few years we have seen these scenarios far too often, and they naturally bother us.  We are disturbed both by the consequences themselves, and that leaders think about these consequences but far too often fail to take any definitive action.  So we were delighted to find a Forbes article by the Center for Creative Leadership titled “Four Rules for Leading with Purpose”.

It’s an amazing, thought-provoking article, and I recommend reading it through.  It talks about clarifying your reason for leading, and assessing the cost of leadership.

We are big fans of climbing the ladder the hard way, and earning success.  The question becomes what then.  Let me get back to Tom’s story.  Upon his divorce he decided not just to leave the city but to leave the country — and went to the Philippines as Country Manager.  He became Asia Pacific General Manager, then assumed the same position for another company.  Finally he returned to the United States, and spent two months getting to know his grandchildren.  Then he came to me, saying “I have to find a job.”  He didn’t need the money.  When I pressed Tom on why he said “All I know is leading companies.  That’s who I am.”  I responded with “you have been out of the country for a long time, and have no friends here.  You barely know your family anymore.  Is it more important to get a fourth notch on your belt for successfully leading another company, or to create a role that gives you significance and satisfaction while letting you build a new set of friends and enjoy your family?”  Put that way he weighed his priorities differently — and became a co-owner of a small company.  He could use his Asia knowledge, work half-time with limited travel, and have a life.

So go ahead climb up the ladder, but be aware it does sometimes have unintended consequences.  My concern is with accepting the default position of staying there — without thinking deeply enough about what’s next, and why.

— Jim Deupree