New family dynamics are already taking shape at Capsco, and though years of planning will certainly help ease the transition, there's still plenty to work out. Ken, for example, now reports directly to Kathy, who has limited experience in the sales-and-marketing field. He, for one, thinks it might have been better for her to be further along the learning curve before taking responsibility for his department. For her part, Kathy thinks that sales and marketing "is an area of the company that could use some new blood. We were in a meeting the other day, and I tried to give Ken an assignment, and we both just started laughing. Finally, I had to say, 'Ken, I'm giving you an assignment. Really."
Billye has also stepped away from the Pacific Northwest operation, demanding that "Ken, Kathy, and Kirk have to own the regional growth of the company, because I refuse to do it." The Redmond operation is now a healthy contributor to the bottom line. But it's safe to assume that decisions to pursue regional expansion -- Kirk's baby -- won't be made so precipitously in the future. Kathy isn't the company mother and admits she is "less concerned with splitting the pie equally" than she is with bottom-line results.
And Billye? "We'll have Star Wars at some point," says Kathy matter-of-factly. "She's a powerful lady." One of the most likely areas of conflict is Capsco's role within the community and the company's workplace policies. Billye, who has known both poverty and the challenges of being a single mother, has made Capsco Santa Clara County's largest per capita contributor to the United Way, and she's well known for her involvement in philanthropic causes. She also instituted a "babies in the workplace" policy at Capsco, allowing parents of newborns to bring their children to work for the first six months. While Kathy has pledged to continue those policies, she is not as emotionally invested in them as her mother is. It's no accident that on Billye's succession time line, she has reserved responsibility for "community relations" for herself through 1995.
Just how long will Billye continue to be involved in Capsco? She's planning a leveraged buyout that will make Kathy the majority shareholder, and she plans to retain some control until she receives "a significant percentage of the buyout price." What's "significant"? She's not saying. By the end of the year, Billye insists, she'll relinquish her office at Capsco and begin functioning solely as a consultant and board member. But her children and Capsco's employees and board members, while acknowledging the great strides she's made in passing the reins, are skeptical.
"I'll show them all," pledges Billye, who has begun seeing a psychologist to help her through the transition. After two and a half sessions, she demanded to know "what we've accomplished here and where we're going with this." The psychologist just laughed and asked Billye if she had ever taken on anything without wanting control, without wanting to win. Succession, after all, was not something she could learn by 9 and apply by noon. But perhaps she could still "win" at it. "She wants us to succeed," says Kathy. "It's a point of pride."
TRANSITION PLAN
Billye Ericksen, with her board's help, set up a three-year transition plan, with major functions moving from her to her daughter, Kathy
July '92 - June '93
July '93 - June '94
July '94 - December '94
January '95
Billye
President, CEO, and chairman of board
Treasury
Quality champion
Training and development
Strategic planning
Information systems
Materials management
Sales
Marketing
Technical support
Accounting
Personnel
President, CEO, and chairman of board
Treasury
Quality champion
Training and development
Strategic planning
Information systems
Materials management
Sales
Marketing
Technical support
Accounting
Personnel
CEO and chairman of board
Treasury
Quality champion
Training and development
Strategic planning
Sales
Marketing
Technical support
Consultant and board member
401(k) and profit-sharing administration
Personnel administration
Apple manager
Chair, quality-improvement-process team
Community relations
Kathy
Vice-president of business development
Product management
Customer service
Business development
Executive vice-president and chief operations officer
Product management
Customer service
Business development
Accounting (2nd qrtr.)
Personnel (2nd qrtr.)
Information systems (2nd qrtr.)
Materials management (2nd qrtr.)
President and chief operating officer
Product management
Customer service
Business development
Accounting
Personnel
Information systems
Materials management
Sales (3rd qrtr.)
Marketing (3rd qrtr.)
Technical support (3rd qrtr.)
Treasury (4th qrtr.)
Quality champion (4th qrtr.)
Training and development (4th qrtr.)
Strategic planning (4th qrtr.)
President, CEO, and chairman of board
Product management
Customer service
Business development
Accounting
Personnel
Information systems
Materials management
Sales
Marketing
Technical support
Treasury
Quality champion
Training and development
Strategic planning
A STRONG-WILLED CEO WHO KNOWS WHEN TO ASK FOR HELP
Billye Ericksen's board of business mentors are Jan Blakslee, president of his own executive-search firm; John DeSantis, director of manufacturing at Capetronic Inc.; Gwen Peterson, vice-president of marketing at Clarity Software; and Bill Flanagan, operations vice-president at Amdahl Corp. When Billye got stuck on succession planning, she called in organizational psychologist John Renner. Once plans were in place for Kathy, Ken, and Kirk, two seasoned managers were hired. They are Cliff Videll, manager of information systems, and Mary Pim, director of business development. Both report to Kathy.
