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Being a hot-shot CEO is not all it's cracked up to be
By Wu Jiayin |
October 31, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY people crave becoming a successful chief executive officer (CEO) because they enjoy both prestige in business and material wealth.
However, the life of a CEO is not as desirable as many suppose. A competent CEO often must sacrifice a lot of family life and free time, and meet significant pressure and stress, according to Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave in "The Secrets of CEOs." The book is based on interviews with 150 CEOs by the authors.
The book is absorbing and thought-provoking, delving deep into what motivates CEOs.
This is a work that seeks to provide considerable guidance for future CEOs. But rather than singing the praises of the position, it focuses more on its challenges and makes it clear that the job of CEO is not for everyone.
To become a CEO, one should first have a healthy body, the authors say.
"Just like being a top athlete, being a CEO requires that you are as close to your best as much of the time as possible," they write.
It is impossible to stop operations during the time a CEO is ill or out of commission. As the CEO is usually "the final decision maker in a multibillion-dollar business" with hundreds of employees and pensioners (and probably stockholders) relying on him or her, a CEO's incapacity to work may have great impact on a company.
On January 14, when Apple's CEO Steve Jobs told employees that he would take a five-month leave of absence because of health issues (during which period COO Tim Cook would serve as interim CEO), the news immediately sent Apple's stock down seven percent that day.
In addition to good health, a successful CEO should also be wise, determined, resilient, visionary, capable and passionate.
CEOs must give attention to particular issues, including developing a plan for rapid globalization of the business, promoting a sustainable environment, sustaining liquidity in a challenging economic environment, and so on.
Recruiting and developing talents is one of the most important strategies.
Few CEOs succeed alone. They need the support of strong teams of talented employees, especially during times of uncertainty. Moreover, they need successors once they leave their position.
"Today, most companies fill vacancies reactively, a resignation putting them on the back foot, scrambling to locate good enough candidates," the authors point out.
It must be noted that successful CEOs spend 25 percent of their time on new talent development.
In a recent survey of companies with stocks on the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) 100 index, 68 percent of CEOs said the "human capital agenda" was their primary priority, ahead of strategy and execution.
In a Forbes magazine survey, 74 percent of CEOs said staffing represents a "very significant challenge."
As the authors observe, "We are at the outset of the first world war for talent, driven principally by unfavorable demographics in the West, skills scarcity in the East, a worldwide shortage of global leaders and the frequency with which employees are now shifting jobs."
Despite the heavy burden of being CEOs, the authors discourage the practice of letting work engulf their entire lives. CEOs must spare time for activities outside of work, they say.
They quote a CEO at an FTSE 100 index company who regretted at his failure to enjoy fatherhood fully when he was younger: "I can't remember the first two boys growing up when I was with my first wife."
Indeed, those who aspire to become CEOs ought to reevaluate their own capabilities and weigh the costs as well as the benefits of the job.
However, the life of a CEO is not as desirable as many suppose. A competent CEO often must sacrifice a lot of family life and free time, and meet significant pressure and stress, according to Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave in "The Secrets of CEOs." The book is based on interviews with 150 CEOs by the authors.
The book is absorbing and thought-provoking, delving deep into what motivates CEOs.
This is a work that seeks to provide considerable guidance for future CEOs. But rather than singing the praises of the position, it focuses more on its challenges and makes it clear that the job of CEO is not for everyone.
To become a CEO, one should first have a healthy body, the authors say.
"Just like being a top athlete, being a CEO requires that you are as close to your best as much of the time as possible," they write.
It is impossible to stop operations during the time a CEO is ill or out of commission. As the CEO is usually "the final decision maker in a multibillion-dollar business" with hundreds of employees and pensioners (and probably stockholders) relying on him or her, a CEO's incapacity to work may have great impact on a company.
On January 14, when Apple's CEO Steve Jobs told employees that he would take a five-month leave of absence because of health issues (during which period COO Tim Cook would serve as interim CEO), the news immediately sent Apple's stock down seven percent that day.
In addition to good health, a successful CEO should also be wise, determined, resilient, visionary, capable and passionate.
CEOs must give attention to particular issues, including developing a plan for rapid globalization of the business, promoting a sustainable environment, sustaining liquidity in a challenging economic environment, and so on.
Recruiting and developing talents is one of the most important strategies.
Few CEOs succeed alone. They need the support of strong teams of talented employees, especially during times of uncertainty. Moreover, they need successors once they leave their position.
"Today, most companies fill vacancies reactively, a resignation putting them on the back foot, scrambling to locate good enough candidates," the authors point out.
It must be noted that successful CEOs spend 25 percent of their time on new talent development.
In a recent survey of companies with stocks on the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) 100 index, 68 percent of CEOs said the "human capital agenda" was their primary priority, ahead of strategy and execution.
In a Forbes magazine survey, 74 percent of CEOs said staffing represents a "very significant challenge."
As the authors observe, "We are at the outset of the first world war for talent, driven principally by unfavorable demographics in the West, skills scarcity in the East, a worldwide shortage of global leaders and the frequency with which employees are now shifting jobs."
Despite the heavy burden of being CEOs, the authors discourage the practice of letting work engulf their entire lives. CEOs must spare time for activities outside of work, they say.
They quote a CEO at an FTSE 100 index company who regretted at his failure to enjoy fatherhood fully when he was younger: "I can't remember the first two boys growing up when I was with my first wife."
Indeed, those who aspire to become CEOs ought to reevaluate their own capabilities and weigh the costs as well as the benefits of the job.
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