Here’s to long goodbyes.
Tim Leiweke said Thursday that he will leave his post as chief executive officer for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, but not until June 30, 2015, or until a successor has been found.
Management experts have a technical term for what can happen to leaders during that type of long exit strategy. You may even have heard it before.
“This is a true lame duck situation,” said Joseph D’Cruz, professor emeritus of strategic management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. “There isn’t an orderly succession process in place.”
A so-called lame duck is any person or thing that doesn’t function properly, but the phrase is typically reserved for outgoing elected officials who seem to become ineffectual as they approach the expiry date on their time at the top.
These days, U.S. President Barack Obama is dogged by the lame duck question as he tries to quell a steady eruption of issues from Ferguson, Mo., to the Middle East.
In the corporate world, exiting leaders can face indifference in the ranks. How do you convince employees who know you’ll be gone next week or next month to pull together for a big project?
In this instance, Alan Middleton, executive director of the Schulich Executive Education Centre at the Schulich School of Business at York University, disagrees with the lame duck description.
The board of directors is the overall guiding force of MLSE, the pro sports and real estate giant whose holdings include the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Raptors basketball team.
The directors’ responsibility is to ensure it’s all steady at the helm during this uncertain time, Middleton said.