Last year, Sandra Davis decided to make a succession plan for the company she started 26 years ago. She knew where to look for expert help—in the mirror.
Davis is the founder and CEO of Minneapolis-based MDA Leadership Consulting, an executive and organizational-development consultancy to local and national companies, including 15 Fortune 500 firms. Among its services, MDA helps clients making a leadership transition to create a “blueprint” by interviewing board members and senior staff about the qualities and qualifications they feel their leader should have. “Unless you know who you’re trying to hire, you’re not going to get them,” Davis says.
She spends much of her time shepherding company boards through the process of selecting top executives. “It’s pretty hard to go out and consult with a business about what they should be doing,” says Davis, “and then ask: ‘What am I doing [about my own company’s succession situation]?’ and not have an answer.”
In late July, she had an answer—turning over responsibility for the company’s day-to-day operations to a new president, Paul Batz.
“Naming Paul president acknowledges that this is going to be a stable company for the long term,” she says. “It’s signaling that there will be a logical leadership transition.”
Batz left the world of public relations to join MDA as an executive coach in 2001, the same year he published his first book, Inspire Persuade Lead: Communication Secrets of Excellent Leaders. Executive coaches, Batz explains, help top managers learn how to deal with such issues as hiring and motivating staff. “Nobody goes to the junior-high career day and says: ‘I want to be an executive coach,’” Batz jokes. “I was really lucky that I learned early on how to influence powerful people.”
In 2005, Batz was named managing partner of MDA; Davis credits the company’s double-digit growth for the past four years to his leadership. Batz says that MDA “will probably experience more change in the next three to four years than we can possibly predict.” Much of that change will come from its clients’ increasingly global operations. “In this market, there are a whole bunch of multinational companies who are our clients, and they want us to be where they are,” he says.
In October, MDA established a strategic alliance with the local office of San Francisco–based executive-search firm Nosal Partners. The partnership will offer companies a “suite” of services for hiring and retaining top talent.
Davis hasn’t set a date to step down as CEO, but when she does, she’ll stay on at MDA as a consultant. “I can imagine giving up the leadership,” she says, “but I can’t imagine giving up the work.”
