115: Successfully Taking Over as CEO from a Founder (MBS) with Shannon Minifie
We talk about The Fiji Test often here at Free Time HQ on documentation and making ourselves replaceable every day. The central question: Could a stranger to the business take over without much disruption?
That’s exactly what Shannon Minifie and longtime friendtor MBS put to the test several years ago. As he stepped aside as CEO of the company he’d been building for nearly 20 years, Box of Crayons, Shannon took the reins through a two-year transition process. If you haven’t listened yet, be sure to pair this with episode 051: How to Replace Yourself as CEO with MBS.
Today we hear about Shannon’s side of the experience—navigating a pandemic while parenting young children as a newly minted CEO, and the inevitable imposter syndrome that comes with any leadership role. I chuckled at her reminders-to-self about not trying to impersonate Michael or “build a museum frozen in place” with his ways of operating.
More About Shannon: Shannon’s career began in academia, where she wrote a dissertation on David Foster Wallace. In 2016, she embarked on a new path, starting a career in corporate learning and development, and took over as CEO at Box of Crayons (founded by previous guest Michael Bungay Stanier) in 2019. She encourages in her team an enthusiastic discernment that brings a depth of thinking to bear on everything Box of Crayons does.
🌟3 Key Takeaways:
📝Permission: To “earn your paycheck” over a long period of time.
✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Take the advice a fellow CEO gave to Shannon—divide your time into four buckets: staying close to the client, staying close to the competition, calibrating your top team, and making your team and organization smarter.
📘Books Mentioned:
🔗Resources Mentioned:
🎧Related Podcast Episodes:
💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »
🌟Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review.
❤️Consider joining Jenny’s private BFF community, where you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call, a private podcast feed with bonus content, and a community forum to exchange ideas and feedback with fellow Heart-Based Business owners.
💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join
🛠 Get instant access to the Free Time Toolkit: http://itsfreetime.com/toolkit
💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey
☎️ Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask
🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts
📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/115
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free