According to the Harvard Business Review’s article from the May-June 2000 Issue titled, “Don’t hire the wrong CEO,” leadership is defined as a combination of personal behaviours that allow an individual to enlist dedicated followers and create other leaders in the process.
A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive in a company. Their main duties include managing the overall operations and assets of the company, making commercial resolutions and being the main point of communication between the board of directors and business operations. But, ever so often, boards make the grave mistake of selecting the wrong CEO for a company. According to the Havard Business Review, boards that are great at choosing excellent CEOs do four main things that others don’t.
Firstly, they work meticulously to illuminate the qualities needed, they are open-minded as to where the candidate will come from, they do deep evaluations to see which candidate will fit the job and they are open to deficiencies. Thorough progression arranging is fundamental, but only good judgment will matter in the long-run.
Administrators need to make a convincing vision for change that will gain widespread commitment within their organization. They should ask themselves, ‘What will people see, hear and feel once the progressions have been accomplished?’ The quest is to find the decision turn or pivot. Often, candidates are current or former CEOs. The effects of having the wrong CEO are so colossal that coaching, mentoring, help from higher management and senior team members can’t recompense. Firstly, bad CEOs lack focus; they will find themselves having lots of great ideas and starting new initiatives. Companies generally can only do a few things at a time. The smaller the company, the fewer the number of things they can accomplish. Even major companies have been chaotically managed at times, leading to their downfall.
A bad CEO will cause confusion in a business by failing to properly plan and execute ideas, but still expect to see major results. They will also be very demanding and not great listeners. This additional pressure will cause the employees to be discouraged and question their purpose in the company. It is an effect that trickles down, whether or not we can help it. It all starts with the head.
Being a CEO, in the whole, is a difficult position, but a good CEO is focused on a few big things instead of many small things all at once. Another major characteristic of a bad CEO is that they avoid recognition among great workers in a company. These CEOs are selfish and criticize often without offering praise for good work. When employees are only criticized for their shortcomings and not recognized for their accomplishments, they do not feel valued and they work in a state of fear. Often, they forget that they are there to serve shareholders and work for the betterment of the company and the employees. When people aren’t recognized, they aren’t motivated. This adversely affects the flow of communication in a company. Communication should be consistent and open where employees could receive constructive feedback.
Bad CEOs run bad meetings. Employees view meetings as major time sinks with little payoff. They have to stop their work to focus instead on summarizing projects, pulling reports and presenting new ideas and sharing opinions. A bad CEO is eager to listen, since they love to stay in the loop, but would do little to nothing concerning the planning out of them all. Instead, they add their opinions and delegate tasks, adding more work. These distractions strew their focus and kill their productivity and confidence.
Ultimately, a negative environment is created. When employees suffer from anxiety and stress, they will not work well. The CEO will affect the senior employees and the junior employees will receive the worst end of the result. There will be evidence of inconsistent policies, favouritism and the lack of supervision. The effects will be felt in every aspect of the company.
By RAE DAWN BRUSCH