- Choosing to step down from a top job can be an extraordinary decision, whether the person is a pontiff or a politician. But George Pataki, former governor of New York, says making the switch from public figure to John Q. Public wasn't difficult for him.
"I made up my mind that I
was never going to let my public title become my personal identity," he
says. He embraced what he calls a sense of normalcy after he left
office, going to movies and basketball games.
A year or two after he
left office, Pataki went to Madison Square Garden with a group of
friends to see the Knicks play. And he wanted to stand in line to get
himself a hot dog -- something elected officials tend not to do.
"I loved it," he says.
Even though fellow fans recognized him and offered to let him jump the
queue, Pataki waited in line for his hot dog with mustard and
sauerkraut. "I felt really good about the fact that it was just
comfortable for me to be on line with the rest," he says.
Pataki decided in the
middle of his third term in office that he would not seek a fourth term.
He left office in 2006, after 12 years as governor.
"I had no doubts that
this was the right decision for me, for my family, for the team that had
worked so hard with me, and for the state," he says.
Pataki now practices law
at Chadbourne & Parke in New York, where he focuses on energy and
environmental issues. He has enjoyed his return to the private sector.
"The transition for me was really not that difficult, to be perfectly
honest," says Pataki. "But it was time."
Deciding when it's time
to leave can be tough, especially when top jobs are hard to find. In the
corporate world, stepping down from a leadership role by choice is
uncommon.
"It's almost unheard of," says Patricia Cook, CEO of the executive search firm Cook & Company. "It's a very unusual event."
Experts in the business
world wonder why an executive would relinquish a leadership role. Cook
says she can't think of an instance when a CEO stepped down because he
or she didn't feel up to the job. But health concerns can change the
game.
Pope Benedict XVI
surprised the world Monday when he announced he would resign at the end
of this month. He cited his age and his deteriorating strength in his
statement: "I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an
advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the
Petrine ministry." A Vatican spokesman said on Tuesday that Benedict is
not suffering from a specific ailment.
"I was very surprised,"
says David Perry, associate professor of history at Dominican
University. Even so, Perry knew resignation was possible -- even for a
pope. "From my perspective as a medievalist, it's not surprising that
popes can resign," he says. Papal law makes clear that pontiffs can give
up their roles.
But that hasn't happened
in nearly 600 years. Whatever Benedict's motivation for choosing to
step down now, experts say that his legacy could depend on whether there
will be an orderly succession.
Career expert Nicole
Williams stresses the importance of a clean exit in the corporate arena.
"Departing is what ends up being a very monumental and usually public
occasion," she says.
Regardless of an
employee's years of loyalty and service, the final stretch is often what
defines the person. "What they remember is you leaving," says Williams.
"You're going to want to be remembered by this departure, so you want
to control it versus it controlling you."
Geoff Hoffmann took over
as chief executive officer of the search firm DHR International from
his father. As someone who recently went through the transition process,
and who advises companies on their plans, he says a leadership plan is
the key to success.
"One of the most
important duties of a CEO is to make sure that the succession plan is in
place, really from Day One," he says. "Some of the best-run companies
are really thoughtful with their succession planning."
Health and circumstance can contribute to a person's decision to step down from a job in any field.
If a leader doesn't feel
up to the task, experts say retirement makes sense. "If we look at the
corporate world, it really is about: Can the CEO execute the job at the
level it needs to be done?" says Susan Battley, founder and CEO of
Battley Performance Consulting.
From mental sharpness to
memory, leaders need finely tuned skills to be at the top of their
game. "Effective leadership is all about being able to execute
brilliantly," says Battley. Whether the person is in charge of a Fortune
500 company, or the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, leadership is
exhausting.
Since leaving office,
Pataki and his wife spend as much time as they can at their farm in the
Adirondack Mountains. He's still playing sports, like basketball, and
watching them; he calls himself a long-suffering Jets fan. And he still
appears on the political stage. He says: "I do want to try to help out
with advancing policies that are right for the future of the country."
As for the pope, a
Vatican spokesman says he will likely retire to a monastery, where he
will spend his time focused on prayer and reflection.
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