Of course the assertion in the title is false if you believe the CEO should be able to:
- Write with the skill of Shakespeare
- Motivate with the power of Churchill
- Analyze with the brain power of William Thurston
- Understand what’s happening with the insights of Malcolm Gladwell
- Innovate with the success of Steve Jobs
- Deliver a speech comparable to Bill Clinton
- Perform as well under pressure as Tom Brady in the Super Bowl
- Perform multiple tasks with the balancing skills of Nik Wallenda walking over Niagara Falls on a tightrope!
I believe this complexity has increased dramatically partly due to the technology available to us to measure everything. What hasn’t changed is the need to simplify. Its just got more complicated to do it. And the complexity for a CEO with $10m of sales to manage is not that different from the $1Bn corporation. There are no silver bullets in business but for many CEOs I believe the complexity of their job could be dramatically helped by revisiting the roles of their senior team. Its always about the people! I’m seeing several clear people symptoms in the marketplace:
- Non existence of the COO role
- Far too narrow a definition of the CFO role
- Weak analytical skills within the CMO’s team
- Weak writing skills throughout the whole company
Fix these and you will gradually have the ability to share the inbox of the CEO to allow the CEO to work on the business not in the business.
The Portfolio Partnership partners with clients to perform the COO role to get the right stuff done! Reach out anytime to discuss your unreasonably complex inbox!
