Be careful with your loyalty

It is very common for employees to follow around their former bosses as they move on to different companies.  There is often a high degree of comfort and trust, and the boss knows their employee’s capabilities and they want to ensure that they hit the ground running as fast as possible in their new position and want to increase their likelihood of completing their short and long term mandates with a team that is familiar.  It seems like a win/win scenario for everyone involved.  The company gets results faster, the boss accomplishes their objectives faster and there is almost always an increase in salary for the employee.

Surprisingly, I am seeing more downsides with this type of arrangement.  Firstly, there is a reduced timeline for many executives to complete their mandates.  Boards are under more pressure and now place tighter timelines on executives.  A five year expectation to complete a mandate has now become a 3 year expectation.  This means that there is more risk on both the boss as well as the employee when assuming a new position.

Secondly, it is more difficult to find a new position if/once a team management team replaces your team after your mandate was not met.  This is regardless as to whether it was management’s fault or otherwise.

Thirdly, turnarounds are more difficult to achieve now with the increase in global competition for almost every industry.  There are no longer just a handful of market leaders in any industry anymore.  New competitors develop overnight and in forms that are unfamiliar.  A great boss and someone with a reputation as a turnaround specialist for 15 years may have peaked already and continuing their string of turnarounds might simply not be in the cards anymore.  They may want to do it again and they may sell it to you that they want to do it again but that might not be the case.  It is important to remember that many CEO’s have a healthy ego and that will often work in their favour, but it can also work against them.  Make sure you are not following someone who is chasing yesterday’s accomplishments.

Having said all this, use your gut and not just your emotions and your past history when deciding whether to make a jump.

I have seen some people blindly following leaders that are caught off guard when their last loyalty move does not pay out as expected and then they are even more caught off guard with how difficult it is to find a job when you don’t have one.

Farewell,

Mike