Category Archives: CEO failure modes

Recently I’ve heard a lot of people in the startup community discussing “fake it until you make it” for CEOs. I certainly understand how the concept started.

In this second part of my interview with ghSMART principals Kim Powell and Dina Wang, we discuss common mistakes CEOs make and why boards often hire the wrong candidate.

There is such a dearth of research about CEOs that I was excited to find out about ghSMART’s CEO Genome project. They have analyzed a decade’s worth of data from interviews and assessments of more than 2,000 CEOs and 17,000 C-suite executives.

This article is based on an article I published on Entrepreneur.com on January 20, 2017 titled “You’re a Real CEO When Your Company Is Bigger Than Your Title.

Technology reporter Rolfe Winkler recently published an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “When Startups Fail, Silicon Valley’s Millennial CEOs Like to Share Feelings.

Photo Credit: cdsessums via Compfight cc
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently released his book “A Passion for Leadership,” and it has a great lesson in CEO credibility. In it he discusses the situation in Syria.

John Allison, former CEO of BB&T, once told me that he thought CEOs should be evaluated not only on the performance of the company while they are CEO but also for several years after they leave. There is a momentum effect in every business.

I am constantly observing leaders to better understand how my three Cs model of credibility, competence and caring applies. Many people I know are shocked by the ability of Donald Trump to gather a large number of followers.

Photo credits: Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump images by Michael Vadon. Ben Carson image by Gage Skidmore. All licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
I find the presidential race very interesting for what it can teach business leaders.

Photo of Rafael Nadal courtesy of Flickr user Ian Gampon
I watched an incredible U.S. Open tennis match this past weekend, which I think provided a demonstrable lesson for CEOs.