EDITORIAL: Founderitis hits Sygnia

When he succeeded Sygnia’s founder as CEO just more than two years ago, David Hufton said Magda Wierzycka embraced the change and welcomed new talent and ideas in the corner office. She appeared to be ready to hand over the reins, trust more, and let Hufton steer the next wave of growth of one of the champions of index investing into a giant financial services group.

Except she wasn't. Less than two weeks into Hufton’s tenure, Wierzycka made a breathtaking return as executive chair.  She downplayed her comeback, insisting it would not undermine Hufton. But it’s not unreasonable to assume Wierzycka’s near mythical status at Sygnia made the job difficult for Hufton, who abruptly resigned in February and paved the way for Wierzycka to return at the helm of the company she started in 2006.     

“With me coming back invariably I was going to ruffle feathers. I came in there and said, ‘guys it’s not working on multiple fronts’,” she told Business Day this week. Put differently: Wierzycka is the one with the vision and the desire to build Sygnia into a top-tier company. Nobody else can. 

It’s a classic example of founder’s syndrome, a harmful situation where a founder holds too much power and influence over the company and struggles to let go. This usually results in limited growth at best, or failure at worst.