Faux CEOs and neck strain

According to basic business principles, there is no more than one CEO per company. That makes sense. Then how come there are so many more than that in companies everywhere?

A common view of a CEO is a person hovering above the fray of a company, sitting in a huge office with minions doing all of his/her work. But, the best CEOs I've met are deeply committed to their company and pay attention to their people, results and of course, their customers.

Many, many others who do not have that title seem to feel they are too busy or important to commit, to get their hands dirty or roll up their sleeves. They don't know the status of their responsibilities, departments, customers or their people. They are faux CEOs. They may or may not have impressive titles, but that doesn't matter, they are too busy or whatever to contribute meaningfully.

So that means many times there are real, engaged CEOs who have teams of faux CEOs reporting to them. You can tell by their necks. When the real CEO asks a question, the faux CEO constantly needs to turn to his/her subordinates to find the answer.

The fewer the CEOs the better. What is more important than being hands-on and engaged with your people, product and customers? And think of the neck strain we'd be eliminating.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com