my two cents on management. which one comes first, chicken or egg? never ending question. so which one comes first in management, the company or the ceo? i hear you. some say ceo being the founder of the company. others say the company, cause they hired the ceo. but i’ll say neither. the busines came first. the demand came first. the market came first.
why am i asking this? now too often we see companies being managed by ceo’s and by his (or her) liking, his style, his way or the highway. if you are the owner of the company, all you want is result. you do not care who delivers it, how is it delivered, all you ever wanted was results. this is where it goes wrong. if this is how it is, mind as well hire a magician and he will show you whatever you want to see.
company is driven by business. business is driven by demand. demand is supplied by products & services. products and services are delivered by people. that’s the inevitable chain. the ceo represents the company. business is represented by the market. demand is represented by customers. products & services represented by the employees.
the ceo
when we say the ceo “represents” the company, understanding is that he or she will consistently be the point of reference for the company. in other words, the ceo is somebody, because of the company, not the other way around. yes many will disagree, and will even take steve jobs as an example where he single handedly revived apple, and that he should be credited for making apple what it is today. if you argue on this fact, then you are also saying that apple is nothing after steve jobs. we all know the answer to that.
tim cook took the helm after steve, now he became the point of reference for apple. and eventually he will handover to another person, and it goes on. let’s then review our question earlier. who came first, the company or the ceo. ceo comes, ceo goes, while the company is still the same company throughout. now which is more important. to have a good ceo or a good company?
the 3c’s
the company, the ceo and the customer. we’ve evolved from an entire century that believes the customer is always right. and that is supposed to be a good thing. customers would like to be always right, and we would like them to believe so too, but when we are facing situations where it literally implies that we are wrong, it becomes tricky. are we to blame the employees just to satisfy the customer?
evolution took place. for the worse. now the ceo is always right. all the best decisions are made by the ceo. all the bad ones are fault of employees. now which is worse? either way the employee loses.
to be continued..