Summary: The relationship between boards of director and CEOs
are vital to the well-being of any company.  Many boards and
CEOs misunderstand that relationship and so are locked into a
"spiral of doom."  The author describes the spiral and ways to
stop it.
 
CEOs And Boards Are Locked In A Spiral Of Doom
by Brent Filson  
 
American CEOs are dropping like flies.  Boards, armed with new
federal rules and stock exchange requirements coming in the
wake of the corporate scandals of the past few years, are
getting rid of underperforming CEOs at record rates.  This
trend is all the more notable because it's happening during an
improving economy and stock market.
 
However, the real reasons for the CEO bloodbath are being
overlooked.  Analysts pin the bloodbath on the CEOs.  But it's
not just the CEOs who are failing.  Boards are failing too.
Working with thousands of leaders worldwide for more than
twenty years, I've learned that there is a "spiral of doom" in
the relationship between many company boards and their CEOs.
Most boards are clueless as to what leadership skills are
needed for CEOs to succeed.  So they hire clueless CEOs.
Clueless boards hiring clueless CEOs -- it's the classic spiral
of doom.
 
The reason boards and CEOs misunderstand leadership is that
recently there has been a tectonic shift in leadership skills
CEOs need to succeed.  In the 80s and 90s, the autocratic CEO
reigned supreme.  Many companies were like slow-moving ocean
liners with autocratic captains giving orders to mates and
mates giving orders to the crew.  But today the combination of
globalization and new, differently-manageable generations
coming into the workforce is creating the need for new kinds of
leadership.  CEO leadership is no longer like piloting an ocean
liner but like white water canoeing that calls for flattened
organizations that can change rapidly and accurately,
decentralized decision-making, motivated employees, and
inspiring relationships.     
 
The era of the autocratic leader is over.  Yet most boards know
no other way of leadership but autocracy.
 
Here are three things boards and CEOs can do together to stop
the spiral of doom. 
 
(1) Be aware of the crucial differences between autocratic
leadership and the new leadership.  It's easy to spot
autocratic leaders.  They come with a "my-way-or-the-highway"
attitude.  They're long on order-giving and short on listening,
great at micro-managing and poor at motivation, great at caring
for the company's results and poor at promoting the welfare of
the people who must achieve those results.
 
The new leaders, on the other hand, ask a lot of questions.
They consult with people rather than command them.  They have a
passion not only for achieving results but for promoting the
well-being of the people who must achieve the results.  They
listen well.  They have the courage to allow others to fail.
They challenge people to be better than they think they can be.
 They are continually enhancing the leadership skills of others.
 And they understand that rewards and punishments are the lowest
forms of leadership.      
 
(2) By all means, don't hire autocrats.  Select CEOs who are
skilled in the new leadership.  This means taking great pains
in the interview process to have candidates talk about their
leadership philosophy, ways they have manifested that
philosophy, and ways they intend to manifest it as a CEO. 
 
(3) Continually monitor and evaluate CEOs on how they're
carrying out the new leadership activities. Boards and CEOs
must put into place comprehensive and systematic leadership
processes. They must hold themselves accountable for those
processes.  Board meetings must be consistently devoted to
leadership issues.  When CEOs report to boards on the state of
the company, they must also report on the "state of leadership"
-- showing how leadership is getting results and how the
leadership capabilities and responsibilities of their senior
leaders, middle managers and small-unit leaders are being
constantly upgraded.    
 
Autocratic CEOs are maestros at getting the wrong results or
the right results in the wrong ways. Boards who bring them on
buy a ticket to ride on the spiral of doom.  

The time is now for boards and CEOs to get off the ride and
bring in CEOs who recognize that the best leadership is not
about what leaders do to people but what they do with people. 

 
2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.


About The Author: The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent
books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and
101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS.  He is founder and
president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more
than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies
worldwide get audacious results.  Sign up for his free
leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn
Action Into Results," at www.actionleadership.com  

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