Feature Article - March 2008

Stakeholders stall even the most stellar careers:

     William and Mary College president pays the price

As soon as you “put down your tools” and step into your first management position, you are beholden to lots more people than just your boss, and they can catapult your success or sink your career.  Just ask Professor Gene Nichol, former president of the College of William and Mary; he could write a book on the subject and probably will!  Until then we can still find lessons of leadership in the news from Williamsburg, VA which climaxed last month at the second oldest college in the United States.

The shortest tenure since the Civil War

The selection and placement of a college president is surely done with great care, possibly more than most organizations of similar size and scope.  So we can safely assume that Nichol was neither ill-prepared nor lightly considered when he stepped into the role of president from his previous job as law school dean at the University of North Carolina. 

Furthermore, his professional credentials were stellar, and he earned a positive and accessible reputation among students.  He filled prestigious teaching positions at several universities, founded centers for constitutional and civil-rights law, authored books, published papers, testified before the U.S. Congress, was appointed to judicial posts, earned professional awards, and was given one state’s highest civilian honor.  Nevertheless, the William and Mary student newspaper called his tenure, “The shortest presidency since the Civil War” when he resigned on February 12, just 2½ years into office.   

Was he found guilty of a crime?  No.  Then he must have lied on his resume or misappropriated state funds?  No.  Then surely he was caught in some scandalous behavior?  No.  Then why did the school’s Board of Visitors announce that his contract would not be renewed, essentially firing the man as of July 1?   The answer lies in the complex nature of “stakeholders,” those people who are affected by your actions and can have a surprising impact on your success, even from far outside your organization.

In his own words

In his parting address, Nichol cited “decisions or sets of decisions that have stirred ample controversy,” two of which have been most often ascribed to his departure.  The first of these had to do with the display, removal and re-display of a cross in the campus chapel.  The second had to do with allowing a show to take place on campus that featured porn actors, strippers and other sex workers.  While the reasons for his decisions were articulate and grounded in the law, they were also incendiary to many stakeholders.

Nichol said as much himself in his resignation announcement.  “Mine, to be sure, has not been a perfect presidency,” he wrote.  “I have sometimes moved too swiftly, and perhaps paid insufficient attention to the processes and practices of a strong and complex university.  A wise leader would likely have done otherwise.”  We will never know if he could have staved off his fate with more political savvy or better decision-making processes, but the lesson remains. 

The farther one climbs in an organization, the more one’s job is to manage these complex, visible and volatile relationships.  So it behooves all managers to understand and practice this skill set early.  As a college president, Nichol had to juggle the demands of students, parents, alumni, special-interest groups, lawyers, lenders, contributors, faculty, staff, legislators, news media, local businesses, city residents and even tourists!  While his list may be longer than yours, the point is relevant from supervisor to CEO.  

Get strategic with stakeholders

It’s been said that it’s hard to be strategic when your hair is on fire.  Nevertheless, many stakeholder problems can be averted, mitigated or reversed by being proactive, before sensitive issues become the conflagration of the day.  Here are some suggestions:

• Meet with your boss, staff and/or team to identify all of your internal and external stakeholders groups.Do some homework.  Identify issues, interests, positions, and people.Conduct a risk assessment of each, rating them on a two-by-two matrix based on likelihood and severity of impact on your business. Develop improvement and communication plans for each beginning with those in the high-likelihood-high-severity quadrant.  Include goals, channels of communication and process owners for each group.
• Reassess and update these plans regularly.  Lead by example with your own plan and hold people accountable for stakeholder relations.

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