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I am the smartest boss in the world!
By Guest contributors for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:August 9, 2009
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The sentence above you should not say, ever. Unfortunately, there are so many examples of such behavior and that is bad for the boss and for the company.
The Smartest Boss Phenomenon may be encountered in too many companies and while it is unexplainable why it exists in the first place, the truth is that it does exist and creates many problems for the company.
The example for this article is the CEO of a medium-size publishing house. The company has very good books for schools, from primary schools to university, but in the last few years the profit is declining and business partners are less and less willing to continue business relationship with company from our story.
As many other companies, this one started as a small family business almost from garage and with time it became a medium-size enterprise with six figures profit. The core business is publishing of books for schools and few other titles here and there. As the business became larger and larger, several problems started to arise.
Firstly, when there was a need for new employees in graphic department, CEO took the duty and contacted all candidates, talked to them and decided which one is to be hired. She studied art but she don’t know what a prepress operator should do and what knowledge and skills he must have. Anyway, she did all the work and hired people. Then there was a need for a few journalists and editors and CEO stepped in. She don’t know what an editor must know and what is his job, but she did all the talking and interviewing and hiring. The same is true for journalists.
When the staff asked for new computers and software, CEO stepped in and contacted sellers and dealers, negotiated all prices and chose what the company will buy and from whom. She don’t have knowledge to say what a certain application is better than other, but she did it. When there was a need for office furniture, CEO stepped in and chose the colour and shape and price and dealer…
Needless to say, there were some problems with such approach. The majority on newly hired employees didn’t know their job. The application were unsuitable, and office furniture was nice and expensive but in fact it was just furniture, there’s no “office” in it. Needless to say, the same CEO’s approach repeated with every problem that employees encountered. From design decision to choosing of good printing house to distribution to what’s gone be for lunch…
With time it became clear that employees have no responsibilities because every problems was to solved by CEO. It was good for a while, and indeed it is good to work without any responsibility. But very soon became obvious that every idea about work flow and business in general was doomed: if it wasn’t CEO’s, it was no good. That lead to frustration and the best employees left the company at the same time. It was almost a disaster but with shrinking business the company managed to survive. After some time the other started to thinking about leaving and the company is now on the verge of true disaster.
The real tragedy here is that employees tried to talk to their CEO but she didn’t listen. She founded the company and she wasn’t ready to distribute responsibilities to others. She wasn’t aware that every company will grow beyond the capabilities of one man or woman. And when that moment comes you must let it go or more precisely you must hire right people and give them freedom to do what they do best. The sooner you realize that, the better for you and the company.
However, this is not the only example of such behaviour. Unfortunately, there is large number of companies that have Leonardo, Einstein and Greenspan, all in one person, as a CEO. If you work in similar company find yourself a new job and find it quickly. If you are the founder of the company and if you are very proud of your achievements, growth and profit, ask yourself what are you doing. Trust people, let them do what they do best, and simply be the same visionary as you was in the first days of your entrepreneurship. And for God’s sake, leave the decision about what pencil to buy to someone else.
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Stjepan Skramic, Co-founder of Histerius Design and Positions and Promotions
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