CEO’s and Miss Congeniality

Recently I saw one of financial TV’s talking heads criticizing a CEO for his presentation during an annual stock holder’s meeting.  If I hadn’t had a context, I could easily have thought I was listening to a beauty contestant critique.  Granted most TV pundits have no idea what it takes to be a CEO, and maybe this particular guy was dumb as a rock, but it started me thinking about what makes a good CEO.

I used to be a CEO.  I had my good and bad moments, so I have an idea what works and what doesn’t.  To run a large organization you must look like a leader.  This style takes many different shapes depending on the organization and the culture.

A leader can be General George Patton or Deepak Chopra, whatever the group you’re leading needs to get to its objective.  The key is to understand what the group needs and to project that style, if possible (why “if possible”?)

This stylistic problem is the reason certain CEO’s and leaders are great in one situation and crummy in another.  One of the reasons that I voted for Barack Obama was that I thought we needed a calm leader at that point in time, not someone like John McCain, who I considered a bit of a hot head.

If you want to know if you are a leader, look over your shoulder.  If there is anybody back there, you are a leader.  If there’s no one there, you are not a leader.

On a sadder note . . . I’ll miss Elizabeth Taylor.  Beautiful people like her make the world a better place.

Comments

[nn]

No matter what is going on, true faith is a wonderful tool. If the quest is true, it couldn’t hurt and usually helps. Don’t laugh if you see me on the tennis court, kneeling before my matches. Couldn’t hurt.