View from the Top

CEO Stephen McCann talks succession planning

You’re one of seven children. Does that play a part in your leadership style?

I haven’t traced my leadership style back to my childhood [laughs] but authenticity, integrity and honesty were values no doubt instilled in me from a very young age. I was in an environment where I always had the opportunity to learn new things from a lot of people around me and that’s probably a hallmark of my career. It’s always been continuous learning. I came from a working-class background – we didn’t have any exposure to the business world, really – and I learnt as I went along.

How do you make decisions?

I try to ensure I have the right information. I can be data-driven sometimes but it’s about the comfort of knowing that I’ve given things fair consideration. Sometimes decisions have to be made quickly but, generally speaking, you do have time to absorb enough information to form a considered view.

When and where do you do your best thinking, your strategic thinking?

One of the challenges is to make sure you get the time to do that. I have a practice of occasionally – not as often as I’d like – doing a mindfulness exercise. It helps to clear your head and I find that I can take a step back from the day-to-day pressure. There are always some shorter-term challenges to deal with but it’s important to step back from them and think about the longer-term challenges.

Is that mindfulness exercise like meditation?

Slightly different. It’s essentially just a process of breathing to clear the head and slow things down. I needed to know the scientific explanation. We have someone who explains it very well [at Lendlease, where they offer training in mindfulness] so that got me over the line.

What keeps you awake at night?

In our business, we’re involved in a lot of activities, which, by their nature, have risk associated with them... We had a fatality [at Sydney’s Barangaroo] in 2014. That was our first fatality in 4.5 years and the organisation really feels that. I think those are the things that keep us all awake at night.

For a CEO, is there such a thing as work-life balance?

Yes. I think it’s important to be flexible, to be authentic as a leader and to demonstrate that it’s

“YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE GENUINE EMOTION BUT YOU’VE ALSO GOT TO HAVE THE STRENGTH THAT PEOPLE LOOK FOR WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH.”

okay for everyone in the organisation to think about workplace flexibility. I consciously make an effort. At least two days a week, I come in late. I’ll either go to the gym or take my daughter to school.

What do you consider late?

I’ll get to work at about 10.30am. It’s in my diary so people know they can’t book a meeting for that time. It has become pretty well known that I do that – and that’s also conscious because I want people to know.

How do you handle it when a valued executive isn’t firing on all cylinders?

I’ve found myself having a conversation with someone, saying, “You don’t seem to be in the right headspace. Are you okay, is something happening? Is this something we need to talk about?” I try to be proactive. Then there may be a situation of genuine underperformance where someone just isn’t doing the job. You’ve got to be direct, you have to have an honest conversation. It’s unavoidable from time to time that you have to make decisions that affect people’s career paths.

How much time does managing people take up?

A vastly more significant proportion than I thought before I was the CEO of a public company. I think it’s something that a lot of CEOs underestimate. At the end of the day, your key assets are people and so it shouldn’t surprise any CEO that the predominant things they have to manage are people issues.

Given that, what is your approach to hiring the best people?

There’s a great saying that when you hire a new person, you have a new team. I do try to imagine how that person will interact and how their style will work with the other people around the table. I put a lot of emphasis on getting second opinions so I’ll try to get candidates in front of others in my team. There is some wisdom to be gained from getting different perspectives.

A lot of chief executives are big personalities, extroverts even. You seem quite considered. Is that sometimes a challenge?

It’s probably one of the hard parts of the job. You’ve got to live and breathe the job all the time so the way you behave, the way you communicate, you can’t really let your guard down because you’re a role model in the organisation. That can be tiring.

How do you keep everything in your head? Are you a prodigious note-taker or do you have a fantastic memory?

I don’t take notes as a general rule. In fact, I’m almost paperless. I probably have a pretty good memory. It’s about separating what’s important from what’s urgent. People allow the things that are important to become urgent but you’ve got to deal with them before that.

Do you ever cry at work?

I’ve been known to when I’ve been talking about a safety incident and I’m always told that people find it okay. But I kick myself afterwards. You’ve got to have genuine emotion but you’ve also got to have the strength that people look for when times are tough. Showing that strength is an important part of being a leader, too.

What advice would you give to a new CEO?

People say it’s a lonely job at the top and that can be the case. The key thing you need to have is a willingness to be accountable for everything. Most people are happy to be accountable for a portion of things but not have ultimate accountability.

What’s your take on succession planning?

There’s a book called Good to Great [by Jim Collins] that says CEOs should think about their succession planning from the day they become CEO. I’ve had that in mind since I read the book before I was CEO – I’ve had that in mind from day one.

You’ve been at Lendlease for more than 11 years – more than eight of those as CEO. What’s next?

Oh, another 10 years or so. I have no desire to leave any time soon. We actually have a succession planning process and a number of my senior team are actively going through that process – but that’s been ongoing for several years. We have to be prepared because sometimes things change and we have to be ready for surprises. But it’s hard to think of an organisation I’d rather be at than Lendlease.