Too many managers really want to be a CEO as fast as possible, but most of them are unsuitable for the position. How do we know? Ask them why they want to be CEO. The answer to the question "Why do you want to be a CEO?" will not necessarily show who is suitable to head a company, but it will filter out those who are clearly unsuitable fairly easily.
What are the incriminating answers? The most common are more money, more prestige, more job security, no pestering bosses, and no organizational politics. This motivation is sometimes explicitly stated and sometimes wrapped in some kind of ideological cellophane that trained hands can easily unwrap.
Inverse knowledge pyramid
What is wrong with this motivation? People who have one or more of these thoughts (or "I want to be CEO because I hate dealing with details") are not only unsuitable to be CEO; they are also probably not too suitable for their current managerial rank. Otherwise, they would realize what is wrong with this. People with reasonable management skills and elementary organizational understanding probably know that organizational politics is unavoidable, and certainly for a CEO, who constantly engages in it. They would definitely be aware that a CEO, despite being the general manager, is not really number one. They would know that a CEO always has a great many bosses who are far more demanding and aggressive in shaking his or her chair from morning to night, demanding results and sometimes directly connected to his or her bloodstream.
This childish fantasy of managing affairs without any interference (and understanding better than the CEO), without being told what to do, goes hand in hand with organizational, managerial, and business shortsightedness and with zero awareness of the knowledge-authority-responsibility pyramid, which is the inverse of the organizational hierarchy. Therefore, when employees on the base level criticize their superiors, assuming that they know better, it may somehow be forgivable. When managers do it regularly, however, it is quite embarrassing. Serious managers cannot afford to disregard the fact that their superiors, especially the CEO, are exposed to a lot more information that is concealed from the junior manager. The higher level managers use this information to make decisions that often appear completely wrong from their subordinates' limited perspective, but which are correct (even if they are not, this is being wise after the fact).
This immature concept goes well with the other three reasons: more money, more prestige, and more employment horizon. All three are external to the work itself, and as such guarantee failure for a CEO. Why? Because a CEO in the business sector, in contrast to many other jobs in a company and many CEOs in the public service and government companies, cannot succeed in this demanding position without internal motivation derived primarily from the work itself. Successful CEOs chase results day and night. They are aware that there is no such thing as respite and serenity in their job. They realize that money, prestige, and an employment horizon will naturally result from their achievements. All of them are aware that money is a result, not a goal. They manage their careers without strategic errors, postpone gratification, turn down unsuitable positions, create career levers, and wait patiently for the right opportunity.
Puppet theater
Do all CEOs have intrinsic motivation? In large companies, they certainly do; otherwise, they would not succeed in getting through such long and difficult paths. The same is true of serious companies that can filter out people with extrinsic motivation (it is very difficult to fake internal impetus and hunger to succeed, lead, and manage). This is also the reason that the chances of becoming a CEO for the wrong reasons are poor from the start, even for smart and talented people, unless they were hired to head small and inferior companies, or companies looking for a puppet to wear the costume of a CEO. There, however, there is no money, certainly not prestige, and the employment horizon is confined to the caprices of a puppet theater director.
The author is a labor market specialist
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 21, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019