Your Successor

You are responsible to select your successor as the General Manager of the company. There are 3 possible candidates:

Ms. Shalini - Intelligent. Very sharp on the uptake. Head Strong. Aggressive. Very dedicated. However, she is very critical of the present management and often has been heard (by others) griping about the facilities provided to employees by the present management (i.e., you). You tolerate her because she is good at her job. You feel that she lacks the bigger picture and that is the reason of her gripe. She is also not very popular with her peers (you think that is because she is a women and the others - males - feel threatened by her aggressiveness and intelligence.)

Mr. Jaimal - Hard task master and gets work done. Very blunt and rubs people the wrong way. Lacks finesse. Does not suffer fools gladly. You feel that he could do well if he takes into account different perspectives. His biggest asset though is his willingness to take on the unknown. A few years ago, you had seen him take on a task and you were quite sure the project would be a failure or at best a partial success. He surprised you and everyone else.

Mr. Purushottam - Mr. popular. Gets along with everyone. The walking help desk. Respected by all subordinates. But you feel is a bit of a softy. There were occasions where you would have liked him to be firm and taken a stand. But instead you found him taking the middle path. But of the three, he is the one with the broadest perspective of issues.

All three are very capable in their own way and you would not like to lose any, if possible. But you have to choose one. How would you go about picking up your successor? Who would you choose?

What do you do?

What do you do?