An ex-pat CEO of the Japanese subsidiary of a global European company intimated to me that he intends to leave his job. He was already actively interviewing. He had had some significant successes a few years back but felt the global company’s bureaucracy stymied his ability to succeed.
His first interview did not go so well. Remuneration was too low, and the company was a poor match culturally. He would have been miserable there if the company had hired him, even if the salary was in the right ballpark. It’s never just about the money. Yet, this CEO is doing himself a disservice regarding timing.
The best time to leave a job, paradoxically, is when you are on a high—when you have achieved some significant results and improved the condition of the business, so your successor is working on new challenges in the business, not old problems that you have left unresolved. And yes, you should begin cultivating bench for your successor from day one so you are free to leave when the time comes without doing a disservice to your employer. Leaving on a low, with ambiguous results and the business in a questionable state, whether your fault or not, never serves a CEO supplicant well.
Yet even excellent business leaders who leave a role at the top of their performance often have a challenging time. One of the most talented CEOs I know, who left his job on a high, spent over a year looking for the right opportunity. He is uncompromising on what is important to him. He was just as uncompromising when running his business in Japan, which is why he was so successful.
It pays to be aggressive in self-promotion but patient and discerning in choosing. A non-Japanese ex-pat CEO remarked that the title of CEO in Japanese subsidiaries of foreign firms can be deceiving. Some are empowered with strategic discretion and have authority over budgets to make things happen as they view in the business’s best interests. Others are merely glorified sales and marketing directors, expected only to implement directives from above, who have little or no discretionary power and the most meager of discretionary budgets on par with petty cash.
Be seduced by neither title nor brand. Eschew roles like the latter. They preclude you from advancement later.
If you find yourself dissatisfied with your role, you have three choices. You can put up with it and suffer silently. You can try to change things. Or You can leave. Only the latter two options are viable.
So what about my advice to the CEO ready to jump ship? He should continue to cultivate relationships and options for a new role, but he should seek to make his business a success while he is there. Doing so only increases his value and options.
“But the company won’t allow me to fire non-performing staff or even negotiate terms of business deals,” he lamentented.
“Would you want to stay if you could do the job on your own terms?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
“Talk to your boss,” I advised. “Tell him what you need to make the business succeed. He might not immediately agree, but start pushing now. Your objectives are in the right place and aligned with his. You are debating only means, not ends, and nothing is wrong with that.”
“What if he doesn’t like it and refuses? What if I damage the relationship?” the CEO questioned.
“What do you care? You’re ready to quit if the status quo does not change. However, I doubt he will outright refuse what you ask. You both have too much of a common interest for that.”
The most successful CEOs I know live life on their own terms, and this CEO does too. They ask for what they need to succeed without trepidation. They speak truth to power. They don’t simply take no for an answer. There is nothing wrong with saying, “Well, that’s just not good enough.” My CEO friend will be fine.
And what about you? Do you live life on your own terms or someone else’s?
You can probably guess my advice here.
English 
Japanese