Just what does a CEO do?

Posted on July 31, 2006
Filed Under Blogs |

In reading this article featuring Jonathan Schwartz from Sun I was struck by a couple thoughts. The first being the fixation on whether or not CEOs blog, which are usually cries heard from bloggers themselves and the equivalent of adolescents seeking the approval of adults.

I think that the addition of large company CEOs to the blogosphere en masse would add remarkably little to the quality of the discourse. In fact, because CEOs get media trained to the lowest common denominator in the course of their rise to the top, I think it’s entirely possible that the quality of discourse could actually decline.

Insofar as a CEO’s “#1 job is to be a communicator,” I must respectfully disagree with Schwartz. A CEO has 4 jobs:

1. Plan. A CEO above all else must be able to think in the future about what investments are appropriate for the company, strategic directions to be embraced or abandoned, and ultimately, forecast future performance accurately and consistently.
2. Control. A plan without the ability to execute on it is academic at best. If the CEO has a primary job it is clearly to deliver on forecasts and projections.
3. Develop people. A CEO is also the chief human resources officer, it is his/her responsibility to create the conditions upon which all employees of the company feel rewarded appropriately, confident in the future of their company, have just just the ability but also the opportunity to grow professionally, and perhaps most importantly, apply accountability to management itself.
4. Develop culture. Closely aligned to #3 is the notion of company culture, which is ultimately a reflection of the values that the company holds itself to and reinforces in every employee of the company, from the CEO down to the lowest level.
Schwartz would no doubt argue that being an effective communicator is essential to all 4 jobs a CEO holds, a point that would be hard to argue. However, like most things in life it’s not so easy to just say “my number 1 job is to be a communicator,” especially in light of the fact that Sun as a whole has done all 4 things above so poorly in recent years. I sure hope more CEOs don’t decide to “do a blog” and if they do maybe they will take Paul Otellini to heart and write a blog for internal consumption only.
All the Internet’s a Stage. Why Don’t C.E.O.’s Use It? – New York Times: “My No. 1 job is to be a communicator,” Mr. Schwartz told me last week. “I don’t understand how a C.E.O. would not blog if committed to open communication.”

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