Rupert Murdoch, who retired as chair of News Corp and Fox News recently, and George Soros, who gave up control of his Open Society Foundations in June, waited until they were 92 to step down. Carl Icahn still runs his corporate raiding firm at 87, Michael Bloomberg runs his financial information and media giant at 81, and Larry Ellison runs Oracle at nearly 80. This theme was echoed in my recent Fireside Chat with 102-year-old Deborah Szekaly of Rancho La Puerta and 93-year-old Michael Murphy of Esalen, who remain deeply engaged in their businesses. These examples challenge the notion that age necessarily diminishes capability, showcasing how senior leaders can stay influential and effective well into their later years.
So, how old is too old to lead? I read a recent Fortune magazine story with the title of today’s blog post, which got me thinking that maybe it’s the wrong question. Perhaps the question should be, ‘How do we assure competency in leadership?’ which is more of an age-agnostic question.
As I’ve said before, I evaluate leaders on two scales: experience (a proxy for wisdom) and capacity (a proxy for growth). Ideally, a leader has both of these qualities, but the one we need to consider as someone gets older is capacity. Do they have the capacity to be both curious and wise (our definition of a modern elder)?
Here are the five questions I would ask an older CEO to determine if they still have the capacity to be effective.
- What’s been your biggest lesson in the past year, and how will it change your leadership or strategy moving forward? This is evidence of a growth mindset and ability to apply lessons.
- When it comes to your leadership, what has improved and what’s gotten worse over time? This shows whether they are self-aware.
- What are you most excited about for the company in the next 5-10 years? This shows a future orientation (not being stuck in the past).
- What hobbies or activities do you most enjoy when you’re not working? This shows they have some balance in their life such that they’re not clinging to their CEO identity as a life preserver and a fear of being a PIP (a Previously Important Person).
- Who is best suited to succeed you in the future, and what are you doing to mentor them? If it requires a search outside the organization, what are you doing to seek them out? This shows they can “get real” about what’s good for the organization in the long term.
-Chip
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