Succession planning for big ego bosses

I’m the greatest, the smartest, the richest; and I went to the best schools

No, I’m not writing about myself. Instead, I’m referring to the 2015 Republican presidential primary race. The surprising frontrunner as of early October remains Donald Trump, aka The Donald, former star of “The Apprentice” and the world’s best business executive — at least according to him.
In some respects, The Donald is not unlike many other extremely successful entrepreneurs and executives who usually have one thing in common — a big ego. A supersized sense of one’s abilities coupled with unbridled energy and enthusiasm is not always bad.
It’s typically these achievers who seem to continuously, against all odds, go on to do bigger and better things in rapid succession. Many also have a persona that reflects an exaggerated sense of their own importance. This, however, may just be a defense mechanism that serves as a shield, allowing them to forge new ground while using the braggadocio as a protective cover to fend off self-doubt.
No matter if The Donald continues on this ascent to commander in chief, there are a few good lessons that business leaders can learn from him. First, if one does not believe in him or herself no one else ever will. Secondly, along with his assertions of greatness he has also continuously proclaimed that he’s built a great team.
One has to assume that in his brilliance he also has made plans for the future of his very large, but arguably exaggerated, empire by grooming a successor. It could be his daughter, whom he has said is almost as great as he is.
Herein lies where the beef is for this aspiring leader of the free world: There is no way he could devote all of his waking hours and energy to this campaign if he didn’t have a darn good team taking care of business. Most likely, he put his high opinion of himself to work cloning a team mirroring his own image, which might be the ultimate ego trip, while performing a valuable service to the enterprise.
Ferreting out a successor and a first tier of senior leaders requires many attributes, including imbuing one’s minions with the lessons learned during an ascent to the top. Painful defeats (for The Donald this means Atlantic City) are just as important as major victories.
The takeaway from observing The Donald is not whether he can earn the nomination, or if he is even capable of running the most powerful country in the world. Rather, it’s that in order for a leader to go on to bigger and better things, or leave a meaningful legacy after fading into the sunset, he or she must be capable of creating a succession plan that can sustain an organization.
Reality is, voters, in the case of candidates and shareholders, and boards for corporate CEOs, must decide if a big ego helps or hinders. That’s because when the talking is done the only issue that remains is whether the leader can produce as promised.
Michael Feuer co-founded OfficeMax in 1988, with $20,000. During a 16-year span as CEO, he grew the company to 1,000 stores worldwide with sales of $5 billion.