Christine Mooney, Northern Illinois University’s Associate Professor of Management, lent her insights on leadership transitions to Bloomberg Business in an article they ran on the appointment of Twitter Interim CEO Jack Dorsey.
“You’re basically on cruise control in your company,” said Mooney in the article. “Jack Dorsey may be able to get away with some more changes than other interims, but really he could start something and the permanent CEO could come in and say, ‘I want to do something else.'”
Mooney told Bloomberg Business that there are six ways companies use interim CEOs: as a seat warmer who just manages daily operations; a contender for the permanent position who needs to prove to the board he or she is a good fit; a groomer meant to train the new CEO; a marketer who is setting up the company for sale; a fixer who is turning a company around; or a cleaner who tries to refocus a firm’s portfolio.
“If they’re staying for three to six months, there’s not a whole lot they can do,” Mooney said. “They can maybe stop some bleeding.”
Among Mooney’s many credentials, in 2012 she was named the Bill and Paula LeRoy Professor of Social Entrepreneurship. Mooney’s other areas of expertise include creativity and innovation, leadership succession, and researching the rising trend of interim CEOs.