Peter Sorgenfrei advises founders stepping down as CEO to write detailed job descriptions for both roles, have explicit conversations about boundaries, and then step back completely. A slow handoff or lingering founder interference will undermine the new leader.
I often sit with a founder who's had enough, essentially have built his company for 7 or 8 years and decide that it's time to step aside. The search for a replacement CEO is often not that easy. Why? Because somebody's coming in to take over your baby and supposed to lead it on his or her own while you take a back seat. Taking a back seat is very difficult for many founders. Here are 3 tips If you're considering stepping down. Number 1, make it absolutely clear what your focus is going to be and what it's not going to be. Make sure that you write a new job description for yourself, including the job description for the incoming CEO. Number 2, have many conversations early on about what to do if you overstep your bounds. And number 3, make the transition relatively quickly and then step aside and stay out of it.
