Was taking a break for last few weeks….am back to business. Picking up the thread where it had been left….The Five Temptations of the CEOs - The First Temptation !
Most CEOs were result maniacs before reaching the top slot. But once they reach the top of the ladder in the organisation, most of them end up concentrating more on preserving the status. This represents the most dangerous of all the temptations : The desire to protect the status of their career.
As a result the CEO starts making decisions that protects his/her reputation (alternatively his/her ego) and avoid making decisions that might damage them.
A question to ponder on : Don’t executives realise that by focusing on results they will ultimately achieve greater status & ego satisfaction ? Yes, but this requires a lot of work over a long period of time with many episodes of ‘status-loss’ on the way.
For a CEO who is unable to resist this temptation, even a temporary loss of status is unacceptable !
Self Analysis
Some questions that will help identify your susceptibility to this temptation. But that does not mean you will succumb to this temptation. ‘To be or not to be’ is your call !!
1. Do you personally consider it a professional failure when your organisation fails to achieve its objectives ?
2. Do you often wonder : What next ? What will I do top this in my career ?
3. Would it bother you greatly if your company exceeded its objectives but you remained somewhat anonymous relative to your peers in the industry ?
Although it is healthy to separate one’s sense of self esteem from the success on the job, but on a professional level these should not be divided – organisational success and professional-personal success are one and the same. Quite often you will find CEOs justifying their own performance even when the organisations they lead are failing around them. Take the example of the CEOs of the big 3 auto giants in US who went to the Congress for the bailout package as an ideal example of this.
Even though other ‘human factors’ are important, only the CEO is ultimately responsible for results of the company, and this must be his / her final measure.
A pronounced concern for the ‘next step’ is a good sign of susceptibility to this temptation. It is a possible indication that success is being gauged in terms of career advancement rather than current performance.
It is in human nature to hope for a just share of acknowledgement, it is dangerous to entertain the same. Worrying about how much public recognition one receives is a possible sign of susceptibility to the first temptation. All CEOs at some point or the other in their career receive a short shrift when it comes to public recognition. The ones who eventually get recognised are the ones who are not distracted by the occasional slighting in the public domain. For they take larger personal satisfaction from achieving the results.
Simple Advice for the CEOs
The future of the company you lead is too important for the customers, employees and the stakeholders to be held hostage to your reputation (read as ego). Make results the most important measure of your success, else step down from the job !
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22 comments:
Comes at an opportune moment when loads of corporate blunders are doing the rounds..people in the boardroom connived to save their reputation instead of taking a blotch on their career graphs....Maybe its difficult to live an anonymous life on the graves of fame......
esteem....it's meant for anyone leading a grp....
I do hope the fetters are off for good !!
very hard hitting statements diva !! Good for the jokers that u r not on the senate's hearing committee !!
Exactly!There is no forgiving people who do not think of lives they affect because of their bloated egos and sheen on their coats.....fear of appearing as a failure is greater than the the actual failures they are...
good diva
esteem, personally i feel your last set of comments....are out of context....to what you had written earlier....so fail to udnerstand what you are driving at ??!!
kyun gayab ho jatein hain.. do write.. few people wait 4 ur creative ideas.
it's seems the creative personality in you has gone 4 a big nap. what r the next set of ur ceo's view still pending. cheers
have a nice day
i think this is the thing which u were trying 2 point out....
Vikram Pandit is voted as the worst CEO.
do we think is india still proud?
What you describe reminds me somehow of 6th class high school history and what Karl Marx said in describing human behaviour, namely that when people's circumstances change, their ideology tends to change as well (meant as a description and not as prescription).
Isn't falling prey to this temptation the main vice that plagues politics around the world as well, apart from the corporate world (in fact, I think it holds for any field where people are involved with power)? If government officials and statespeople didn't succumb to the desire to preserve the status quo if that means affecting their own seat/power, thus serving their own interests and those who support them, then the world would have solved all major problems and vice would not perpetuate indefinitely. The same holds true of the 2nd temptation, i.e. the desire to be popular and politics - what ancient greeks called demagogy or populism.
Here, I am again reminded of what Jesus in Orthodox Christianity preached and I believe is at the heart of this discussion. 'If kingdoms are to change, man must change', i.e. the human being must become aware of his/her oneness with the world and place the common good before narrow, personal interest.
Correction: in my comment above please cross out the word demagogy, which refers to a totally different thing than populism. The word being greek, double shame on you, Alvarakos...
well said...point taken Alvarakos....
The desire to protect the status of one's career comes from complacency....for a person willing to adapt to circumstances,keeping an eye on the goal.....has to consntatntly upgrade himself...either in skills sets or otherwise. One willing to tread this path will not need to create a status quo.....for his benchmarks would keep on moving northwards !....leaving practically nothing required to be protected !!!!!
Perfectionism coupled with humility is the answer then.. Find me such people and I will whole-heartedly vote for them...
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