Are You Unconsciously a Lifestyle CEO?

In early December I published my initial post for NYReport, "I’m Busy".  In it, I discussed a common issue for CEOs of always having something to do but the majority of those activities are not creating lasting value for their firms. While talking with an ex-CEO, we discussed succinctly why some CEOs unconsciously stay busy instead of doing something truly important for their business.

A great example is a meeting I had during the holidays between Christmas and New Year’s.  I caught up with Jim, CEO of an advertising agency, who seemed to be in no hurry for our meeting to end. This is different than the typical New York CEO, and for Jim as well, whose days are typically filled. I asked Jim why he seemed to have more time for this conversation as compared to our other meetings.

“My clients are away and my staff is on vacation, so I am not getting bombarded with the usual day-to-day activities,” he replied. “All I have is some left over paperwork to get done, and if I am up to it review my plan for 2010 that I created with the team back in September/October”.

“That’s great, do you act on and update the plan regularly?” I asked.

“Well, every year in the Fall I create my plan, basically check that 'Create Business Plan' box, and then forget about it because there is so much else to do.” 

From our previous conversations I knew Jim had aspirations of significantly growing his firm but nothing concrete. Then it struck me, Jim had gotten so used to being reactive (preparing for a staff meeting, meeting with a prospective client, dealing with personnel issues) that he had not mastered the other part of his role, the important part of his role where being reactive doesn’t work: the part focused on purposefully acting to create long-term business value week-in and week-out.

It was almost as if Jim wasn’t facing up to the role of the CEO and the easiest way for him to not face up to the challenge was by tackling all the day-to-day initiatives that had to be done and convincing himself that if he didn’t do it, there would be immediate negative consequences for the firm.

I have found that this kind of thinking actually stops CEOs from fulfilling their ambitions. It turns potential Order of Magnitude CEOs into lifestyle CEOs. Lifestyle CEOs make a good living, at least for awhile, can take time off for vacations, and typically are great people.

Unfortunately though, for Jim and CEOs like him that have much grander ambitions, becoming an Order of Magnitude CEO is just a fantasy.