I just read a great interview with Ram Charan on ceoforum.com.  Charan, an acclaimed management consultant and author, studied CEO succession planning, wrote about it in the Harvard Business Review and later discussed it on the CEO Forum. 

Charan found that across the corporate world, succession planning is not very sound.  That could explain why (in a study that he cites) 40% of CEOs fail in the first 18 months.

“One … study found that almost half of US companies with more than $500 million dollars of annual revenue had no meaningful succession plan,” says Charan.  And when CEOs fail? ”The direct and indirect costs of this to both individual companies and the economy as a whole are simply enormous.”

Charan says any board or company that fails to put in place a decent succession plan is ignoring one of their most important responsibilities. At minimum, the board should ensure that at least two sessions a year are devoted to reviewing a minium of five potential candidates - both internal and external.

He also observes, in my view very importantly, that in preparing executives for the next big job, a classroom is not a management development program.  Executives need real experience.  ”Management training develops awareness, provides tools and resources, and helps people develop strong professional networks, but the real learning occurs on the job.”

This is such an important point that I can’t let it pass without comment.  Often our firm is asked to come in and provide a “classroom” experience for high potential executives, largely because it is perceived as good “bang for the buck.”  We have developed some very fine programs for leaders on communication strategy and skill.  While we certainly konw there is value in the classroom experience, we know that to make a lasting impact we have to work “with” the executives while they’re “on the job.” 

That’s the whole philosophy behind our executive coaching program–we work in “real time” with the leader on the projects and communication issues that are on their plate in the moment.  Over a six month or one year engagement, the executive has a partner in the process while “learning on the job.”  We can accelerate learning around leadership and communication, because they’re problem solving key issues, learning to communicate more effectively and build skill at the same time. 

Charan accurately points out that “while companies can provide the opportunity and resources to develop, development is a function of the individual, and their own motivation and capacities.”  And I think that’s why “on the job” learning in real time with the partnership of a coach provides the perfect blend of experience and training.  You know immediately who is motivated and has the capacity.  Those who are motivated have an opportunity to get something else that is rare, and essential, according to Charan - “Basically people need three things to develop: on-the-job learning, rigorous appraisal, and clear performance feedback.”

To read the article, go to: http://www.ceoforum.com.au/article-detail.cfm?cid=6172 

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The great American writer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

“All the great speakers were bad speakers first.”

You didn’t become a leader overnight.  You don’t become a great speaker the first few times you get on stage, either. Don’t be afraid to invest time and effort.  It will pay off.

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I’m wild about a brand new, beautiful, and absolutely brilliant book on how to create memorable visuals for presentations.  It’s called Presentation Zen, Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, by Garr Reynolds (New Riders, 2008).

You only have to flip through the pages to immediately grasp Reynold’s provocative mix of inspiration and practical guidance.  As a presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert, he shows how  thoughtfully designed, graceful, efficient visual imagery can make you look good as a presenter.  He has of the most popular Web sites on presentation design and delivery on the net — www.presentationzen.com.

The book is filled page after page of examples of how creativity, photos, large size font, and cool graphics can transform your PowerPoint from dull to dynamite.  Just one example - picture this - the slide on the left shows a full page photo of a runner slogging through the desert with a simple message - Less than 33% of U.S. adults are at a “healthy weight.”  Not bad.  But the slide on the right? It shows the midsection only of an overweight man grabbing his belly fat, with the caption in large print: 66% of Americans are obsese or overweight; below that a simple chart on the numbers of all adults, women and men.  It’s so much more memorable!

Garr Reynolds is a writer, designer and musician who currently holds the position of  Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. http://www.kansaigaidai.ac.jp/asp/

 Hence, his zen-way of seeing things.

His real message: Simplicity Rules.

How good is it?  Seth Godin  http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ the marketing guru of gurus quips, “Please don’t buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good.”

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Media mogul Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines (Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and O), www.hearst.com  spoke to the same New York conference I mentioned in an earlier post — the National Speaker’s Association www.nsaspeaker.org.  Her closing keynote was a light, breezy affair, where she shared a few tales from her guide to career and life, Basic Black (Crown Business 2007) available at www.amazon.com  

 While she didn’t win a lot of points for her presentation style ( virtually glued to a script that by now you’d think she’d have memorized) — she connected with  her charm and earnest advice. 

It’s funny, but something (Cathie Black) said stuck with me.  While it is now Friday afternoon, and her speech waas on Monday morning, it’s still in my head:

“Happiness has more to do with success, than success has to do with happiness.”

Now whether you agree, or whether you think it’s a little too sentimental, the point is this — it’s memorable.  And for every speaker, that’s one of the tests - if your audience can remember it hours or days later, the message has staying power.  Try it out.  Test a message - on your own staff - and see if they remember it the next time you get together.

As you probably know, Black was one of the first women to take a major role in American magazine and newspaper publishing. She came to Hearst by way of New York magazine, where she was the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine, and USA Today, which she helped build from a small upstart into one of the country’s most widely read daily papers.

So she’s no stranger to the world of words - and we can all take a page out of her book.  Don’t be afraid to keep the message simple.  

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