5 Lessons from Letterman to Colbert Late Show Succession

There was a big moment in US late night talk show history two days ago. David Letterman, who founded and hosted over 4,000 episodes of the Late Show, returned as a guest for the first time since he left in 2015. Letterman was warmly greeted by his successor, Stephen Colbert. The Late Show transition from Letterman to Colbert has been a success, with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert being the top ranked show in its slot for the last several years.

Here are 5 lessons about leadership succession from the Letterman to Colbert transition.

#1 - Audition Potential Successors - Network executives, not the hosts themselves, make the decision on who will succeed to the host role. When Letterman started his career, he was given chances to guest host The Tonight Show when host Johnny Carson was not hosting so NBC network executives could see how he would do hosting a show. When CBS network executives were looking for Letterman's replacement decades later, they were able to use Stephen Colbert's experience as the host of his own show on another network as his audition.

#2 - Have a Transition Summit - After Colbert was named as Letterman's successor, Colbert came on as a guest on Letterman's show to introduce him a few weeks before he left. That appearance had many purposes. It allowed the two to be seen together so Colbert could gain exposure and a public show of support from Letterman. It also gave the two men a private moment where Colbert could ask for advice and Letterman could pass on any wisdom. During their reunion on Monday, Colbert recounted that he had several questions prepared and he shared the one he remembered the most - "Is there anything that you wish you had done that you didn't do?" Colbert recalled that Letterman told him that he wished he had tried moving the desk to other side of the stage at some point during his decades there but never did. Colbert proudly pointed out that he had taken that advice to heart and showed Letterman where his old desk was on the other side of the stage.

#3 - Clear the Stage - Once Letterman left the job, he vacated the spotlight entirely for Colbert. After being on national television almost every night for decades, Letterman virtually dropped out of sight, and even grew an outsized beard. It took Letterman almost nine years to come back as a guest. Perhaps Letterman was doing his retirement as differently as possible as his rival, Jay Leno, had done with his own late night show.

#4 - Successor Respects Predecessor - Colbert was exceedingly gracious and deferential while having Letterman back this week. Even when the audience's standing ovation and chants of "DAVID... DAVID..." went on a long time, Colbert waited for a cue from Letterman that he was ready for them to cut it off and start talking. It was just one of many statements and signs Colbert shared to show how much he respect he had for Letterman. Colbert let Letterman make most of the jokes as they talked. Colbert also let Letterman select the musical guest for the night, The National. (Small world, personal note: the drummer and bassist from The National went to my high school and they are one of my favorite bands.)

#5 - Predecessor Respects Successor - At the reunion, Letterman made a point of showing his respect for Colbert - "Congratulations on the great success you and your staff have had... It must be very, very gratifying... and as a handful of people recognize, it's not easy, but you make it very easy, so congratulations to you and the entire staff." Letterman knew the unique weight his words would have as one of only a few people in the country who knew first-hand what it was like to host a major network late night television show.

At the end of their discussion, they had an exchange that was a symbolic microcosm of their whole transition. Colbert asked Letterman in a deferential way if they could take a selfie of the two to replicate the one Letterman had let Colbert take when they met during while Letterman was still host. Letterman agreed and said that was great because he wanted to ask permission to sit behind the desk again for a picture of his own, joking that he had to prove to his college age son that he really used to host the show. When Colbert welcomed him to sit at the desk, Letterman thanked him and noted, sincerely, that he would never have allowed that himself.