The Biden withdrawal: seven dangers facing leaders who don’t know when it’s time to quit
The decision by President Joseph Biden not to contest the 2024 Presidential Election did not come as a surprise. Whilst concerns had been expressed long before his disastrous debate with Donald Trump, it was the debate that emboldened many of those who had been whispering quietly, to say the quiet part out loud.
Despite the growing opposition to his candidacy and the negative poll numbers, Biden dug his heels in. Eventually, likely due to a combination of funders threatening to withdraw their support and the deafening crescendo of opposition from within his own party, Biden finally announced that he would be pulling out of the race.
In the final analysis, it was a sad and quite undignified conclusion and one that could almost certainly have been avoided. Yet, so often, leaders like boxers are the last to come to terms with their own mortality.
In no way is this blog an attempt to diagnose the health of President Biden or for that matter, a judgement on whether it may have affected public confidence in his job performance. Rather, it is to focus on lessons for leaders of the many hidden dangers for those who don’t know when it’s time to quit.
1. Delusion and detachment
Delusion can affect anyone and is not a unique feature of cognitive decline. All too often, the trappings of leadership such as privileges and deference can make leaders feel self-important and lull them into a false sense of security. The tragedy is that it is those leaders who believe themselves to be least susceptible to the dangers of delusion, that are at greatest risk from it. Once delusion sets in and the capacity for logic and reason are impaired, then everything can be rationalised. Not unlike the effect of mind-altering substances, delusion detaches leaders from reality and desensitises them to both risk and hazard.
2. Impeding the succession pipeline
Every serious leader, mindful that leadership is stewardship not ownership, should be concerned about who will succeed them. But here’s the rub: it’s too late to think about succession planning on your way out, you should be thinking about it on the day you arrive. Leaders should be consciously aware of the talent around them and nurture competent people for elevation into more senior roles. The danger is when the instinct of leaders is to look inwards to perpetuate themselves in power, instead of outwards to elevate others, they stunt the growth and inhibit development of the very talent they should be cultivating.
3. Someone worse may replace you
When leaders are delinquent in preparing those who will succeed them, they risk being replaced, not by anyone better or even the same, but by someone worse. The point being made here is that people in leadership positions have a duty of care, not only for the wellbeing of those in their charge but, to the extent possible, making sure that what they leave behind is better than what they found. The danger of leadership delinquency is that the critical ‘gatekeeping’ responsibility of leaders is abdicated and when they gates are left open, then anyone can walk right in.
4. Crossing the reputational tipping point
Whilst the function of leadership should never be performative, there are occasions when optics are so compelling that they leave a lasting negative perception of leadership competence. In situations where optics have been negative, for an extended period, this can lead to a loss of confidence and trust. Just as in the case of President Biden, when a prevailing view is that leaders cannot be trusted, neither can they any longer be effective. At such a time, those in positions of leadership as well as those with influence around them, must be courageous enough to consider whether changes need to be made.
5. Cascading collateral damage
According to media reports, one of the reasons why the ground shifted so rapidly away from President Biden, was due to the damage that his growing unpopularity might have on down ballot Congressional and Senate races. As leaders under pressure become increasingly insular, it is all too easy for indifference to the wider consequence of their unpopularity to manifest. Faced with this reality, it is not unusual for them to perceive others as little more than inevitable and unavoidable casualties. When leaders embrace this mindset, they are not just distant or delusional, but also callous.
6. Destruction of legacy
Consideration of legacy is not for the personal aggrandisement of the leader themselves, but rather part and parcel of the function of succession planning. Leadership legacy therefore is the ‘handover manual’, comprising insights, lessons learned, and examples set. In many respects, this will function as a roadmap for those who come afterwards. Unfortunately, when leaders fail to recognise their responsibility to legacy, they not only tarnish their own reputations, but they also set the worst possible precedent for others. Ultimately, bad examples only produce worse ones.
7. Removal by force
The ultimate danger for leaders who do not know when it is time to go is the likelihood that they will be forcibly removed from their positions. This is a final and ultimately avoidable indignity, because no leader should ever wait around to be shown the door. No-matter how deserving you may believe yourself to be, or how unjustified a threatened removal might appear, the dignity of leadership must always transcend individual ambition and ego. Clinging on is not just unseemly, it is selfish, potentially stressful for others and depending on how long the removal takes, damaging to organisational objectives.
When leaders decide to stick around, when it is time for them to move on, they do not need to have malevolent intent to cause great damage. On the contrary, the worst damage and most significant harms are inflicted by leaders who, by hanging on, earnestly believe that they are acting the best interests of others and doing the right thing. As this blog clearly sets out, there are times when the most compelling evidence of leadership isn’t the single-minded tenacity to hold, whatever it takes; it is the courageous decision to let go, no matter the cost.
