Posted on 07/25/2005 12:57:28 PM PDT by hripka
Your company's chief executive might be a pretender, and that may be a good thing, according to Stanford University Professor of Management Science and Engineering Robert Sutton.
Sutton, the author of a 2001 study of corporate innovation, "Weird Ideas that Work," says that a close look at the evidence shows that chief executive officers (CEOs) probably deserve less credit for their company's fortunes than they receive, and that the best of them manage a tough balancing act: secretly aware of their own fallibility, while also realizing that any sign of indecisiveness could be fatal to their careers.
"In just about every study I've ever seen ... the amount of control a leader has over the company is exaggerated," Sutton said, speaking during a keynote address at the AO05 Innovation Summit at Stanford Thursday. Although top executives of the largest companies are often considered uniquely powerful, their effectiveness actually dwindles as companies get larger, he said. "If you look at these Fortune 500 companies where they get paid a fortune, they have the least impact."
The notion of the CEO as a captain, steering the corporate ship, isn't so much a fallacy as it is a "half truth," according to Sutton, who has devoted a chapter to the topic in his upcoming book, titled, "Hard Facts, Dangerous Half Truths, and Total Nonsense."
In fact, leaders -- even great ones -- often have no clear idea where they are going, he said. And they make mistakes.
The best executives, like Intel's former CEO Andy Grove will admit that they face a dilemma in needing to appear decisive, while at the same time being conscious of their limitations. "You have to pretend" Sutton said. "It's sort of a dilemma, but if you want to accept a leadership job, you've got to accept the hypocrisy of it."
In a 2003 interview with the Harvard Business School, Grove admitted that no business leader has "a real understanding of where we are heading."
In the interview, Grove added that it was important not to be weighed down by the burden of making important decisions without a clear picture of things. "Try not to get too depressed in the journey, because there's a professional responsibility. If you are depressed, you can't motivate your staff," he said.
The interview illustrated the dilemma that Grove is "getting even more honest," as his involvement in the day-to-day management of Intel lessens, Sutton said.
Sutton and co-author Jeffrey Pfeffer have tackled other "half truths," in their book, which is to be published next year. Their aim is to shine the light of empirical research on a number of widely held management beliefs, including the idea that leaders should always keep a close eye on their workers, Sutton said.
Sometimes the best managers are the ones who do the least, Sutton said, quoting an aphorism he attributed to 3M's retired senior vice president for research and development, Bill Coyne: "When you plant a seed in the ground, you don't dig it up every week to see how it works."
Sutton even disputed the idea that most of the management advice being published is new or even helpful. "There's too much advice," he said. "Most of it is bad if you actually bother to dig into the evidence."
"If you find a new management idea. I want to see it," he said. "Every idea that's been described as new has, in fact, been around for a very long while."
I would...but my CEO might see me.
I can't count how many times I've seen CEOs look people directly in the forehead and say "we WILL accomplish our goal." and then not accomplish the goal.
Carly Fiorina comes to mind, for some reason.
Exhibit A = Donald Trump
Sure. He's all chutzpah, combined with enough commerical real estate knowledge to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.
Kind of like dotcom programmers. They relied on getting a new job before the current one figured out they couldn't programmer worth beans.
I remember doing a presentation at HQ and being told to "act confident". I found out that was code for "If you don't know something, make up a convincing lie".
Sounds like CEO envy. George Bush is a CEO and he's 'not the brightest bulb in the chandelier,' but he knows how to surround himself with bright bulbs. If a CEO knows everything that is going on, he or she isn't doing their job. It's called delegating.
Richard Branson is an excellent example of this. He doesn't trust numbers because he's dyslexic, and believes that numbers can be twisted to prove anything.
Or consultants.
I hated working with consultants. You never knew when they were just going to pack up and leave.
I've been trying to develop an idea for quite some time, of a positive scapegoat. An ordinary scapegoat is a person or group who gets the blame when anything goes wrong. A positive scapegoat is a person or group that we pretend is in control when things go well, and to whom we direct rewards and praise. Why have either positive or negative scapegoats? If we really understood how things worked, we wouldn't need them,we could just use our knowledge to bring about the results we want. But since we are largely ignorant about how things like businesses work, we find it somehow comforting to have someone to treat as if he were responsible for success or failure, and to reward or punish him accordingly.
EXIBIT B = CARLY FIONA
1) Putting Vin Dahm in charge of the first Pentium processor marketing.
2) Signing the RAMBUS agreement.
3) Making Craig Barrett his replacement.
This article is so true. And it isn't just CEO's - it is just the same for CFO's and CIO's. I work for a large multnational FTSE 100 company in the UK. We own very many names that will be household brands to you in the US. My position means I spend a good bit of time with the 'superstars' that the press think make the company spin. Everyday I find it amazing that the whole thing works (yet somehow it does). When you really, really look at these 'leaders' and here what they say, and see them in bathroom sweating before the board meeting you realise just how ordinary they really are. They do talk crap with style though. All power to them for that!
This article is so true. And it isn't just CEO's - it is just the same for CFO's and CIO's. I work for a large multnational FTSE 100 company in the UK. We own very many names that will be household brands to you in the US. My position means I spend a good bit of time with the 'superstars' that the press think make the company spin. Everyday I find it amazing that the whole thing works (yet somehow it does). When you really, really look at these 'leaders' and here what they say, and see them in bathroom sweating before the board meeting you realise just how ordinary they really are. They do talk crap with style though. All power to them for that!
So Richard, how's business?
Branson: "We made eleventy-seven million pounds last quarter."
Say, I'd be willing to pay twobeansandabeanabeanandahalfandhalfabean for your hot air balloon.
Branson: Sold!
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