Why Chief Executives’ Fail

The top reasons I have seen CEO’s fail:

The CEO is EGO-driven. Confidence with a Sense of Urgency is OK

  • insensitive, abrasive, or bullying in their style
  • aloof or arrogant and do not listen to feedback or criticism
  • They lack emotional intelligence, self-awareness, or interpersonal skills

Failure to show a genuine interest in their people. Sincerely care about them

  • They are self-centered and overly ambitious, putting their own interests above the organization’s
  • They betray personal trust or lack integrity

Failure to have a critical audience review your ideas. Test and experiment with Trusted Advisors

Failure to focus on results. What gets measured gets managed; measure and manage the right things 

  • Failure to pay attention to the cash flow and financial health of the organization.
  • Too far removed from the day to day — have, and know YOUR Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
  • Being in-decisive, decision grid-lock
  • Too far away from new sales and new clients to understand the ever-changing marketplace.
  • Failure to prepare for meetings with a written agenda (purpose, objectives defined)

Failure to put the right people into the right jobs, at the right time. 

  • They lack a long-term perspective or vision, or fail to communicate it effectively
  • Associates with a ‘CEO relationship’ are considered more truthful and loyal than other associates. 
  • Not getting things done due to reluctance to create a sense of urgency in the entire organization
  • They fail to address obvious problems or challenges, or make poor decisions
  • They are unable to select, develop, or retain good subordinates
  • Blurred judgment with confidants and friends

Some well documented examples of failed CEO, I was fortunate not have been an Advisor to any of them.

  • Kay Whitmore, who led Eastman Kodak to lose its dominance in the photography market by ignoring the potential of digital technology
  • Carly Fiorina, who oversaw a massive decline in HP’s value and reputation by making poor strategic decisions, such as the merger with Compaq
  • Warren Anderson, who fled from India after the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, which killed thousands of people and exposed hundreds of thousands more to toxic gas
  • John Sculley, who ousted Steve Jobs from Apple and failed to innovate or compete with rivals like Microsoft and IBM
  • Ken Lay, who was the founder and CEO of Enron, the energy company that collapsed in one of the biggest corporate scandals in history, involving fraud, corruption, and deception
  • Gerald Ratner, who destroyed his own jewelry business, Ratners Group, by publicly insulting his products and customers, calling them “crap” and “total rubbish”
  • Chen Jiulin, who was the CEO of China Aviation Oil, the state-owned oil company that lost US 550 million in a speculative trading scheme and tried to cover it up

Some examples of well documented successful CEOs are:

  • Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple and revolutionized the personal computer, music, and smartphone industries with products such as the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad
  • Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon as an online bookstore and transformed it into the world’s largest e-commerce platform, as well as a leader in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and space exploration with AWS, Alexa, and Blue Origin
  • Mary Barra, who became the first female CEO of a major global automaker, General Motors, and led the company’s recovery from bankruptcy, as well as its innovation in electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and connectivity
  • Jack Ma, who created Alibaba, China’s largest online marketplace, and expanded it into a global e-commerce giant, with businesses in cloud computing, digital media, entertainment, and financial services
  • Indra Nooyi, who was the CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years, and increased the company’s revenues by 80%, while also diversifying its portfolio to include healthier products, such as Qua

Meet The Author, Bill Forster

My passion is supporting CEOs with creating a high performance culture, results the right way. It must start with trust.

As a decisive executive leader and successful entrepreneur, I have built an exceptional track record of revenue and profit growth for manufacturing and service-related businesses across five continents. With more than thirty years of P&L experience, including turnarounds and lean environments, I have led the revitalization of operations systems while dramatically impacting the growth of sales and improving profitability.

I have worked for some leading names including Astec Industries, Atkins. Dave & Buster’s, BHPB, Global Quality Ingredients, Bunge, Key Surgical, Kohlberg & Co., Nellson, Potash Corp, Smithfield, RMH Foods, United Suppliers, Water Street Capital, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Del Taco, Checkers & Rally’s, Wendy’s, Mott’s, Captain D’s, Rich Products, Dr Pepper, Mosaic, Eat’n Park, Popcorn Indiana, and Cadbury Schweppes, and was a field consultant and owner operator with Chick-fil-A. My knowledge has been acquired from years of frontline exposure across the global value chain in food manufacturing and processing, quick service restaurants/casual dining, and hospitality as well as the chemical, pharmaceutical, printing, publishing and broadcast media industries. My consulting engagement experience includes chemical leaders such Albemarle, Cytec, Flexsys, CPFilms, Saflex and Solutia in addition to pharmaceutical pioneers Bioscrip and Novartis.

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