Nike CEO Elliot Hill started as an intern at the company and has spent his working life at Nike except for a spell as a trainer at the Dallas Cowboys American football team. Photograph: Tom Hauck/Getty Images“Nike has always been a core part of who I am,” said Elliott Hill when the sportswear company anointed him chief executive last month. This was not pure spin. After all Hill started at Nike as an intern.
Institutional knowledge is a key asset for leaders, says Marco Amitrano, senior partner of PwC UK, who started as a graduate in the professional service firm’s Newcastle office and worked his way up to succeed Kevin Ellis this summer. He says this experience has given him the ability to understand the “organisation inside out”.
However, businesses that do appoint an outsider who lacks company-specific experience can underestimate the impact of disruption. At times these hires can destabilise the top management team and risk “bringing routines and knowledge that used to work well in another organisation but may be a complete failure in a new company context”, adds Hamori.
Most of these people would have held many different roles within their company, giving them a breadth of experience that external hires may lack. Hill, for example, has worked in more than a dozen roles at Nike, from a member of the sales team specialising in sports graphics to vice-president of global retail.
Some CEOs seek out other opportunities to gain external experience. Roy Twite, chief executive of engineering company IMI, who joined on the company’s graduate scheme in 1988 and has worked across markets including the US, Britain and Sweden, says: “You have to find ways to experience other companies.”
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Source: IrishTimes - 🏆 3. / 98 Read more »