Alex Chiu Quotes

We have very strong succession plans across all group companies. But we do not comment on it. The retirement age is 60 years, but it does not apply to family professionals who work in the business.

Unlike people, companies outlive their founders and their leaders.

Quite often, people who build big businesses don't believe anyone else can run them, and you end up with an old rascal in their 70s and no one to take them on. I could name several - and I won't - who put themselves in that invidious position.

It's a very difficult business, and I'm very interested in the future of it after I'm gone, and I thought that if I can't produce a strong management team here myself, and I can find better management elsewhere, then I should sell it.

Go for a business that any idiot can run - because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.

I will continue to help run my father's company.

Fidelity does have a succession plan in place to ensure a smooth transition.

I would consider selling the whole company; I wouldn't like to sell just part of it, but on the other hand, I have a grandson intent on following my footsteps and another grandson in another couple of years.

Michael Eisner let it be known last week that he had no intention of leaving the entertainment business once he steps down as CEO of Disney in October.

When I took over the family business, it had already been a publicly traded company for 20 years. During one of the first annual meetings I attended, one shareholder stood up and advised me and everyone in attendance that I should resign.

Family business management is a discipline that has evolved from an art into a science. The market for this line of education has been created by the growing recognition of family-run companies that shareholders are demanding greater clarity on issues ranging from succession to the management of wealth and the distribution of profits.

Strong succession planning is a critical element of all the Johnson enterprises.

The number of CEOs voluntarily leaving their jobs or being forced out spiked early. Many of those companies will be turning to an interim CEO to take the reins. These temporary leaders are increasingly in demand, according to those who watch corner office trends.

The biggest part of my job now is to quickly develop successors, and around the world I am working to develop new business leaders in the company.

I'm in a different position than most CEO's. I'm a founder. I'm not a hired CEO. Now, I can be fired by the board, but most CEO's are hired by the board.

CEOs resign when the internal dynamics of the company and the external dynamics of the company actually come together to say it is appropriate. When the internal dynamics ask you whether you have a replacement. I think the transition from CEOships have also become cartoonish.

If longevity is the best index to measure a company, a basic requirement is the ability of the corporation to generate new and new leaders.

You have family-owned businesses that have been around for 500 years. You cannot name a corporation that survives intact for even a few decades.

No company should depend on one person no matter how that person is smart or genius, whether it's Apple or News Corp, or Citibank or any other company in the world.

When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.

Why do I need succession planning? I'm very alert, I'm very vibrant. I have no intention to retire.

And I'm comfortable being who I am, so I think a lot of people who take over from a founder worry about how they compare to the founder; I worry about doing the best I can.

Essentially, you have to be aware of a crisis happening: 'Can the company go on if I get hit by a bus?' That's, I think, how you build a great company and something that can scale.

I think it's very important to have the stewardship of a company by a family member.

I think there's few cases in history where the C.E.O. steps down and is also the founder and reports to someone and that works.