Abstract
This chapter discusses the challenges of an outsider leader running a business where the founder remains in an active role in the business. Grace O’Shaughnessy, the youngest business leader featured in this publication, considers her early management career in Kylemore Bakery and Lir Chocolates, each founder/family businesses, before reflecting on her progressive roles in Java Republic (an independently owned founder-led coffee and tea distribution company, focused on the B2B market) as GM, MD and, more recently, CEO. The nuances of differentiating between two leader roles—one insider and one outsider—are discussed, as are the necessary role negotiations and renegotiations as an organisation grows. Contemplating the debate as to whether an outsider leader should be sought out by default, Grace considers the nuances of selecting someone for their skills, regardless of gender, age or outsiderness. The chapter closes with a conclusion and reflection.
“There is a critical difference between starting and managing a successful firm.”
(Boeker and Wiltbank 2005, p. 131)
This chapter is written by Felicity Kelliher; Patrick C. Flood; Chris O’Riordan; Malcolm Higgs
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Notes
- 1.
Internal locus of control: A belief that an individual can have control over events in their lives and that outside factors can be influenced by one’s actions.
- 2.
Doody was forced to retire from her executive officer post in the Irish civil service upon her marriage at age 23, due to Irish regulation at that time (1971). The civil servants’ marriage bar was lifted in 1973.
- 3.
The Seanad is the upper House of Ireland’s Oireachtas (national Parliament), located in Dublin and composed of a mix of 49 members chosen by specific election criteria and 11 government appointed members.
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Kelliher, F., Flood, P.C., O’Riordan, C., Higgs, M. (2019). Outsider After the Fact: Leading in a Founder-Present Business. In: Outsider Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97463-7_8
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