The Hindu Business Line : The boring CEO

CEO Duncan had a sneaky feeling that people in the company were avoiding him! Often people would quickly change direction when they saw him. A hush would fall even on an animated group when it spotted the CEO. In one-to-one meetings Duncan could sense that the person was in a hurry to leave the room. Given a choice nobody seemed willing to spend time with him!

Duncan was so right about his isolation! He had only himself to blame, though. It was really quite simple: every interaction with Duncan was only on performance. One-to-ones were only on performance; meetings were only on performance; pep talks were on performance; even if Duncan ran into someone in the toilet, well, the conversation was on performance. People wondered if this was a man or a machine; it seemed unlikely that he had any thought other than performance.

Duncan was so uni-dimensional that he was absolutely boring! Apart from work he had no other interests and nothing to contribute. No reading, no sports, no entertainment, no meaningful relationships, no nothing! An interaction with him left people feeling as though they had just been mangled by a machine. So they simply chose to minimise any possible contact with him; wherever possible they would submit reports and write emails.

Personal equations

It wasn’t at all surprising that Duncan didn’t know the personal equations in the company; he really didn’t know the true capabilities or talents of people; and more dangerous was what people didn’t tell him. Under his watch the company lost good people, market share and profitability. Needless to say, the board asked him to leave before the press and equity analysts chewed him up!

The boring CEO example may be a bit extreme but sadly, a lot of CEOs resemble Duncan at least in part. It’s important for people to be able to truly connect with the leader. Otherwise, they feel somehow, unfulfilled. The connection can only happen if the CEO can offer something of value and interest to his people in each interaction.

A piece of knowhow, some information, some encouragement, some new development, an interesting tidbit, a tip for self-improvement and just plain old tender loving care; that’s when an interaction becomes motivating. And let’s face it, everyone needs that kind of positive interaction to deliver peak performance continuously.

Motivational role

The CEOs role is by definition, motivational. To become that kind of a powerful beacon of hope and excitement the CEO has to cultivate many dimensions to his personality. He must be able to offer something of value to everyone in every encounter. For that to happen he must consciously immerse himself in diverse experiences and yet never lose focus on results: art, culture, social concerns, sport, environment, music, movies all become part of his repertoire. Only then can he be an interesting person who is able to understand and relate to people effectively. Why should someone spend any time with a boring person?

For sustained success all of us need to be attractive in a complete sense. It’s important to hark back to an important facet of Krishna: akarshayati iti Krishna, meaning “one who attracts”. Attraction is pull and in the long run, pull is mostly better than push! That’s how you create a strong brand for yourself and your company!