In a completely unexpected move, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams decided to step down as CEO of the remarkable internet ‘start-up’.
According to social media and technology portal, Mashable, Williams will stay with the company though and “be completely focused on product strategy.”
Williams posted on the Twitter corporate blog :
“The challenges of growing an organization so quickly are numerous. Growing big is not success, in itself. Success to us means meeting our potential as a profitable company that can retain its culture and user focus while having a positive impact on the world. This is no small task. I frequently reflect on the type of focus that is required from everyone at Twitter to get us there.
This led to a realization as we launched the new Twitter. I am most satisfied while pushing product direction. Building things is my passion, and I’ve never been more excited or optimistic about what we have to build.
This is why I have decided to ask our COO, Dick Costolo, to become Twitter’s CEO. Starting today, I’ll be completely focused on product strategy.”
Ben Parr of Mashable commented on this article that:
“Evan Williams didn’t enjoy some of the headaches associated with being CEO of a rapidly growing organization. In order to get back to what he loves to do most, product and product direction, he decided to step down and hand the reigns of leadership over to Dick Costolo. Costolo is the co-founder and former CEO of Feedburner, which was subsequently acquired by Google.”
Has Evan realized that he’s no longer “in flow”?
Perhaps so – it would make sense that if he really enjoyed the product development aspect of Twitter that he should do what he does best, while his systems and team does the rest. Since Costolo has the experience as a successful CEO, this may be in his flow.
If the co-founder of one of the more recent epic internet-business success stories can recognize that he will be happier doing what he is passionate about, what more will it take for you to ‘hand over the reigns’ so that you can do more of what you love to do?