When Steve Jobs made his announcement yesterday he was also quick to inject the following statement: "I recommend the company execute its succession plan and promote COO Tim Cook to CEO." At your station or your cluster, do you have a succession plan? As we know, just a few short weeks ago the Buckley Broadcasting family lost owner Rick Buckley. It was clear Buckley had a plan in place if anything happened to him or if he decided to retire. Joe Bilotta was quickly voted in to run the company as he had been groomed to do by Buckley. What's the plan at your station if you retire or get promoted to a regional or corporate position?
Up until recently, radio industry veteran Marv Nyren was the General Manager at the former Q101 in Chicago for Emmis Communications. "Without making this sound overly simplistic, the best way I've found in preparing for my replacement is to include that person (or, persons) in as much of my responsibilities as possible. The more they get to participate in, the better prepared they'll be for handling those things on their own. I always tried to make sure there is an actual plan for my possible successor. What are the 3-5 areas this person needs to develop in order to be a GM? Finance, Technical, Programming, etc. Then, make sure they have scheduled meetings and responsibilities to learn and participate in as much as possible."
Wayne Leland is now in his second month as the GM in Norfolk for Saga Communications. As he ramps up into the market and into his GM chair, he also has to be thinking about who will occupy it next. Because, you just never know, and as a GM your first responsibility should always be to the company (and the listeners of course). "It is critical that as a GM my replacement is on the team. A strong manager surrounds themselves with talent. I would rather have a team of people that are far more talented than me. A weak manager is afraid of hiring people who are strong. They want to be the most important person, most relied upon person in the building. They get rid of the talented people to secure their positions. Now maybe some companies have trained them to behave that way, but it costs you profits."
Leland goes on to say that a true leader teaches others, trains them and hires people who can multiply the efforts. "As a GM, I want our team to be made up of people who know it better than me. I try to attract the talent by creating an environment they can be motivated in and let them run! I am a big baseball fan and if you watch the Red Sox or Yankees (hate the Yanks, but admire how they make it happen) you will see they go get the best talent. Well in radio the GM is the coach, he isn?t the star. Create a team of stars and you win every time! On that team you have rookies and veterans alike, but one thing they all have in common is raw talent, the desire to win and a coach that will help them achieve the most possible."
Do you have a plan to replace yourself?
Thanks to Marv Nyren who can be reached HERE and Wayne Leland can be reached HERE.
NOTE: For those of you who had trouble listening to Leland's audio yesterday in his philosophy about bringing in great talent it is up and running again HERE
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