Last week I had lunch with the founder of PizzaExpress, Peter Boizot, at his grand old club, the National Liberal. He is 84 and has just written an autobiography: Mr Pizza and All That Jazz. Peter is a typical founder – maverick, obsessive, extrovert, energetic, egotistical and relentless. In many respects he has led an impressive and exemplary life – inventing businesses, creating jobs, providing entertainment and donating almost his entire fortune to good causes. As he puts it in the final chapter of his memoir: “I will always be proud that at every stage of my life I have invested everything into the things I love – whether it was pizza, jazz, heritage, sport or the arts. I think my work has benefited all of my passions, which is a fine footprint to leave behind.” He stepped aside with grace from his restaurant company after almost 30 years in 1993 when we took over, and remains its life president.
Many other founders do not depart smoothly. Dov Charney, the ex-boss of clothing firm American Apparel, is the latest example of a high-profile founder to be fired. For years his directors indulged Mr Charney’s eccentric conduct; but recently it seems that “alleged misconduct” provided a handy pretext for a boardroom coup. It is a surprise that Mr Charney was surprised; yet many founders are so narcissistic that they fail to accept their weaknesses, or take threats seriously.
The guru on this subject is Noam Wasserman, who wrote an insightful book called The Founder’s Dilemmas. The author quotes research indicating that almost three-quarters of founder-CEOs are sacked rather than step down voluntarily. The major reason for these dismissals is that most founders do not make the best long-term chief executives; but they find the handover of control an agonising loss. As a company grows, its very success often exposes the founder’s lack of managerial skills – thus hastening the day a successor is required.