Norfolk Daily News

Saturday – February 23, 2008

Your View

Lessons Learned
NORFOLK — Over the past decade or so, researchers at business schools discovered something surprising: retiring chief executives, influential in deciding their successors, tended to choose people remarkably like themselves. Predictably, a CEO who had risen through the ranks of, say, finance, felt most comfortable choosing another financial guy to follow him.

A historic review of succession, however, showed that such an approach was often far less successful than selecting a person who was very different. The company, now strong in the CEO’s area of expertise, would have done better with a new person at the helm from marketing, design or production. This research from business may have a lesson for government, too.

We applaud our city for already moving in this direction by including future mayoral candidates on the search team for city administrator. We’d suggest taking the idea a step further. If our city’s strength has been “getting things done” come what may, Norfolk’s selection committee should look hard for a new administrator who is especially collegial and sees the job less as “Here’s what will be done” and more as, “How can I help you?” and “Let’s make this win-win!”

Many of our country’s young and dynamic industries are favoring ombudsman types of leadership over the old military command approach. This puts the customer, or citizen, at the top of the organization chart. As a result, the organization becomes more streamlined, less micro-managed. Department heads are empowered, given more authority to make decisions and more responsibility for customer satisfaction.

There may be an advantage to choosing a dramatically different style for our next city administrator. Let’s conduct the search — which should include women — with imagination and creativity, redefining the job’s description along the way. We can build on the past without being bound up in it.

GARY and DIANE BLINN