I was reading through notes I took about six months ago during a talk given by a CEO of a large company, who was fired by his board because his firm had serious performance problems — and was taking great risks — that he never learned about until it was too late, and the firm was in deep trouble. I can't identify him, but as I have warned here, at HBR,and in Good Boss, Bad Boss, every boss risks living in a fool's paradise — and the more power the boss wields over others, the greater the risk.
Here is his comment:
"You desperately need a candid adviser. When you become CEO, you get a lot of bullshit. You don't information so much as you get sales pitches. You're alone in the ring."
This guy learned the hard way; I offer it so others can avoid the pain and obvious embarrassment he felt. He looked like wounded animal during this talk, but I had to give him credit for being honest.
P.S. If you read Andrew Sorkin's well-crafted Too Big To Fail, you can see how out of touch the leaders of big financial services firms were in the run-up to the meltdown.