Some CEOs are too passionate—too religious about their company’s vision. They stick to it and refuse to change even when it’s apparent to many that the strategy must be adjusted. Read about structures and processes that can help introduce reality into a passionate CEO’s thinking before it’s too late.
Kelly Scanlon, the President and CEO of Thinking Bigger Business Media, Inc., interviewed Rob for her Smart Companies Thinking Bigger blog talk radio show which ran October 5, 2012. The topic was “Why You Need Dissatisfied Employees” and focused on creating a high-performance work environment.
Kelly’s goal with her radio show is to provide business owners with strategies, connections and inspiration for reaching the next level. Join Kelly and Robert as they talk about systems you can use to get more from your team. Click here to listen to the broadcast.
Olympic athletes are NOT satisfied until they win their medal, so they work like crazy before competing. My newest Forbes.com post asserts that dissatisfied employees are essential. Not dissatisfied with their boss, their company or their job, but dissatisfied with the level of progress toward their goals. It lays out five key elements to keeping them in a healthy state of dissatisfaction.
Being a loyal CEO can be deadly. But isn’t loyalty good? Admirable? Yes, but not always. Not when the CEO is loyal to people who aren’t loyal to the company.
Founders have different aspirations. Some founder CEOs are eager and able to develop their CEO skills enough to run a mid-market company, while others are not. Those who want to keep the job must build those skills rapidly, ahead of the needs of the business, if they hope to keep the backing of their investors.
What a waste when bright, competent senior leaders who report to the CEO hang back, and fail to lead their company assertively. When they tiptoe around the CEO and wait for permission to take charge.
Change is a constant in business, but new modalities have upped the ante. Today’s CEO requires new skills and approaches to deal with these four new challenges.
After five years as a top-level consultant, here are my top five questions for a CEO. But the path to answering “yes” to all five questions can be a long and winding one.
Nobody wants to start a fight. Yet in many cases “playing nice” is uncalled for and may indeed hurt your business. Ask yourself these twelve questions before you cross the line.
Chaos at the top of an organization is a recipe for disaster. Learn about the three types of unpredictable leader, underlying causes for the behavior, four paths toward resolution and methods of coping if it’s your boss who’s unpredictable.
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).