Defending an Asshole CEO, and the Reponse, at InfoWorld

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A thoughtful reader named alerted me to an interesting letter — and set of reactions — sent to Bob Lewis on his Advice Line over at InfoWorld. A reader — apparently a CEO — defended another CEO’s asshole ways. InfoWorld headlined this as defending tough CEOs; I am all for tough CEOs, for having people in such positions who can argue their points and who can implement tough and controversial decisions. Hewlett and Packard did that, Andy Grove did it, A.G. Lafley does it, but in ways that generally treat others with respect.

Here is the CEO’s letter and Bob Lewis’s response — which I think is excellent. Go to the link to see the rest of responses and conversation, which are quite thoughtful. They give me hope that awareness about the evils of nasty bosses are increasing:

Defending tough CEOs
Filed under: General

Dear Bob …

I was surprised that you even bothered to comment on that letter ("How to deal with a really bad CEO," Advice Line, 8/8/2007) for advice.

People
want to play close to the heartbeat but can’t stand the thumping sound
– get over it. Things sometimes get harsh and, well, disagreeable when
you’re in that zone. Someone throws chairs, another threatens "Your job
is gone before mine!"

CEOs are not in that position to be nice,
nor are they there to be cruel, they are there to do a job, produce
results, perform. If they don’t, they’re gone. I agree with you, if you
can’t take it, leave. But my guess is people who have the self esteem
and the assertiveness necessary (not aggression) can both work with
this guy and get him to back off a tad – but it is FIRSTLY the person’s
responsibility, not the CEO’s. Thanks for the listen… and yes …

– I am a CEO.

Dear CEO …

If
you’re a CEO and you defend your peers who throw chairs, I think you
need to learn more about your responsibilities as a leader. Your job is
to get results. If you think you can achieve better results by bullying
the people who work for you, you’re getting only a fraction of the
results possible.

It’s like this: If the people who work for you
are afraid of you, they’ll tell you what they think you want to hear,
not what you need to hear. That makes you worse than ignorant – it
makes you misinformed. Leaders who are misinformed make bad decisions
for reasons that I trust don’t require additional information.

As
a leader, the definition of your job is to produce results through the
efforts of those who work for you. Leaders who yell, throw things, and
intimidate end up having second-raters working for them, because
first-rate employees have no reason to put up with that sort of
treatment. They don’t have to.

And the second-raters who are left aren’t going to deliver first-rate results.

Probably, that’s going to make the sort of CEO you describe throw another chair.

– Bob

Let me know what your thoughts are about this exchange, which I find quite useful for helping to distinguish between asshole CEO’s and ones that are simply tough and competent.

Comments

5 responses to “Defending an Asshole CEO, and the Reponse, at InfoWorld”

August 25, 2007

Mike Sporer

The “Dear Bob” letter centered around the ego of the CEO and really skirted the issue of producing results. To me, the unchecked ego of a CEO leads to his early demise. When a CEO puts his ego at the front, people will tell him what he wants to hear. It is similar to the fear response.
A CEO needs to be humble enough to hire people better than himself. Without collaboration, even the best of us are apt to fail. The response was perfect.

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August 25, 2007

Peter Cranstone

Years ago I was told the following… you need to be accountable and responsible. To that I added “transparent”. Combine all three things and focus on doing the right thing with respect and integrity and you’ll make progress. Throwing chairs smacks of “emotional immaturity” or in other words, being an asshole and not someone you want to work alongside let alone for.
Cheers,
Peter

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August 26, 2007

Bob Prosen

Tough but fare is what a CEO needs to be. Hard on results and easy on people along with being responsible to people not for what they produce. I found this approach most effective. CEO’s are ultimately judged by their ability to meet the bottom line. The great ones know they do this through people.
Bob Prosen

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August 26, 2007

Sam Sellars

I’m finally working with a company where we have a competent, hard working, and intelligent CEO who loves to compete, but is human enough to shake the hands of those of us on the bottom rung. He has created an open and fun working environment where you want to work hard.
It is a refreshing change from an organization where my director gave me a dirty look for a saying a project was not even close to completion. Of course, that is not only thing that happened. I left and now the person they hired to take my place sees that the organization is dysfunctional. I cannot believe it that some people do not see their meanness causes continual project delays, not the people who you blame.

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August 27, 2007

Wally Bock

In the short term, nasty CEOs can often get away with it. Like it or not, there are lots of slave ships out there making pretty good time.
But the job of the CEO is to lead the way to long term competitive advantage and profitability. “Long term” is important here because the best long term competitive advantage is built on people and relationships. If you rip away at those in the short term, they won’t be there when they’re needed.

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