I read a great article over at MarketingDeviant.com discussing the effect of bad chief officers.
I can’t emphasize enough how important I think it is to surround yourself with quality, motivated people–especially in a startup situation where your few employees are led by that strong support of the chief officers. CEOs cannot make any calls based upon personal relationships. They must pick the people who will create the best environment for success to help them lead the company. Keeping the bad ones only makes it worse.
The presence and influence of bad chief officers’ makes the employees under them revolt and despair. From such corruption lies perversion. All the good employees will be gone and the rest of the workforce will adapt to the changes and become just as corrupted as their superior. How can a company survive if everyone is only thinking about profiting themselves? What is worse is when these officers start to work with the enemy.
The blame for failure in leadership always falls on the CEO whether it is their own leadership or the leadership of those close officers around them. Make sure you select the best, inspiring people who get the job done, and don’t be afraid to quickly replace those individuals who don’t fit the needs of the job.
