ABSTRACT
Partnerships are particularly vulnerable to problems of management succession; they have fuzzy lines of authority and are top-heavy with more-or-less equals. A partnership is a fragile device dependent on good relations between the partners and the leadership of the few selected to handle the executive functions. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, noted that the smartest political leader, on attaining high office, proceeds to eliminate those who put him there. Many CEOs have found this to be the road to longevity; once a chief executive has packed his board with cheerleaders, they are not likely to be eager to act as pallbearers. The author says that the top management succession that moved the author up from executive vice president to CEO at American Motors was peculiar but instructive. However, the succession crisis is a corporate disease that afflicts successful and self-made leaders.
