Army leaders typically serve for two years in leadership roles — as company commanders, battalion commanders, brigade commanders, and division commanders. When I was in the Army, I was fortunate enough to serve in the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division twice. The second time I served in the 82nd and 101st I noticed a unique phenomena — some leaders continued to have an impact on their organization years after their departure. While others, even more recent leaders, were barely mentioned.

I now have also noticed this same occurrence in the business world, too. Some people, typically the founder, have an impact on the business long after they have moved away from an active role.

An appropriate term for this phenomena is “leadership half-life.”

Half-Life in Physics and Medicine

A half-life is the time taken for something to halve its quantity. The term is most often used in the context of radioactive decay, which occurs when unstable atomic particles lose energy. Twenty-nine elements experience radioactive decay. For example, uranium and thorium are naturally occuring radioactive elements. Over billions of years, these two elements slowly decay and produce radium and radon.

In medicine, a drug’s half-life is an estimation of the time it takes for the drug’s initial concentration in the body to decrease by half. For example, if a drug’s half-life is 4 hours and the initial concentration is 100 mg, it’s estimated that 50 mg will remain after 4 hours. It’s also used to estimate how long it takes to clear an active drug from your system. The rule of 5 is that it takes 5 half-lives for a drug to completely clear your system.

Leadership Half-Life

Leadership half-life represents the lasting impact of a leader's influence on an organization, even after they have departed or transitioned to a new role. It measures the duration for which the leader's decisions, values, and vision continue to shape organizational culture and performance after they have left. Leaders can extend their leadership half-life by institutionalizing their core values, developing future leaders, implementing processes and procedures, and ensuring continuity in the strategic direction or the organization. On the other hand, a leader's half-life can be shortened by churn in junior leaders, inconsistent messaging, and failure to build sustainable leadership practices.

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric (GE), is a great example of leadership half-life due to his profound and enduring impact on the company. Welch's tenure at GE, spanning from 1981 to 2001, is widely regarded as one of the most successful and transformative periods in GE's history. His leadership style, characterized by bold strategic decisions, rigorous performance evaluations, and a relentless focus on efficiency and innovation, fundamentally reshaped GE's culture and operations. He also enhanced and improved GE’s leadership campus at Crotonville. Leaders from across the company would attend multi-week leadership training events which helped improve their leadership skills and increased their commitment to the company’s values and strategic direction. It also helped lengthen his leadership half-life.

Even after stepping down as CEO, Welch's influence continued to shape GE's trajectory for years to come. His emphasis on continuous improvement and the pursuit of excellence remained ingrained in the company's DNA, guiding subsequent leaders and employees in their decision-making and actions. Welch's strategic initiatives, such as the "Destroy Your Business" program and the emphasis on Six Sigma quality control, continued to yield benefits long after his departure, contributing to GE's sustained success in various industries.

Conclusion

What’s your leadership half-life? If you left your organization tomorrow, how long would your impact be felt? What policies and processes would continue after you leave? What policies and processes would disappear?

Need help improving your leadership half-life? Reach out to TFCG to start working with an executive coach one-on-one to improve your leadership half-life.