Merrill Lynch – Buy or Sell? Depends on the Successor’s Cognitive Capacity

By Michelle Malay Carter on November 1, 2007 

A Manifestation of CEO Cognitive CapacityThe fundamental determinant of a company?s growth, stability, or contraction is the cognitive capacity level of its CEO.? It’s what I refer to in this blog as problem-solving capability and what Elliott Jaques called complexity of information processing.

–If a?CEO’s cognitive?capability level?matches the level of work of the CEO role in a particular organization, you can expect stability.?

–If the CEO’s capability is lower than that called for by the role, it’s time to sell your stock.?

–If the CEO has excess capacity, fasten your seatbelt for growth.

Not all CEO roles are created equal, the level of the role will depend upon the size and complexity of the organization.? Generally, a single business unit organization will top out at level 5.? Multi-business unit organizations have 6 or 7 levels, and only the largest mega-corporations have 8.

What would I do if Alberto Cribiore, the Merrill Lynch board member leading the search committee to replace Stanley O’Neal, called me in a panic because the board dropped the ball on succession planning?

CEO Succession Process

  1. I would do an analysis of the organization and its strategy to determine the highest level of work within the organization, which would specify the level of work of the CEO’s role.?
  2. I would talk with the board about their future strategy to determine if they want to hire for stability (CEO capacity matching the role)?or growth (+1 CEO capacity).?
  3. Then, we would screen the CEO candidates to determine the current level of problem solving capability and hire accordingly.? Of course, knowledge, skills, experience and values would be factors as well, but cognitive capacity calibrated to strategy level would be the imperative.

Most of us view ourselves as “out of the box” thinkers, but despite over 50 years of research on the subject, most management consultants and business executives simply remain blind to the idea of levels of work and corresponding cognitive capacity.?

Accurately matching cognitive capacity to roles at all levels of?the organization?is the key to bringing about?all that is lacking these days – employee engagement and retention of high potentials.

Curious?? Let’s chat.

Filed Under Executive Leadership, High Potential, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Succession Planning, Talent Management

Comments

3 Responses to “Merrill Lynch – Buy or Sell? Depends on the Successor’s Cognitive Capacity”

  1. Daniel on November 24th, 2007 11:58 am

    Would it not be advisable to replace the board of directors entirely since they most likely have, by now, been enjoined by a re-trenchment mentality?

  2. Michelle Malay Carter on November 24th, 2007 12:17 pm

    Daniel,

    Thanks for the comment. Yes, the board failed on many fronts here and should be accountable for this mess. From a succession and talent standpoint, the board is accountable for keeping an eye on the talent pool two levels down, i.e. the CEO’s direct reports, and this usually doesn’t happen. Here’s a post on this: http://www.missionmindedmanagement.com/why-is-succession-so-badly-managed-a-globally-thought-provoking-subject

    Regards,

    Michelle

  3. Adaptive Path At Destiny’s Door | Mission Minded Management on April 19th, 2008 6:53 am

    […] How Do You Decide If a CEO is Qualified? – Not All CEO Jobs Are Equal It seems that Adaptive Path is growing, and its three founders are looking to add a CEO. What PeopleFit could do for Adaptive Path that few others could is use a validated, science based approach to assess the work complexity level of the proposed CEO role and then screen their candidates for the corresponding level of cognitive capability. The cognitive capacity of the CEO will do more to seal the fate of this startup than any other facto…. […]