CEO’s: It’s Fearful at the Top
America’s top executives were under fire last year for what many felt was exorbitant bonuses. Many were thought to be living a lavish lifestyle. Some thought these men and women were worth envying. These executives might have a different view.
A Fear Of Success
CEO’s (Chief Executive Officers) might make a wage that eclipses those of other Americans, but they are also saddled with the burden of success. I know, you may be wishing you had such a problem, but the truth is some CEO’s do fear their own success. They wonder from one day to the next if they will be able to continue with their ability to succeed. They may believe that failure is certain and they will lose it all – they just don’t know when. This can make it difficult for these individuals to bring any of their employees into their confidence because it might be perceived as a weakness to admit self-doubt.
It can be difficult to continue putting together plans to perpetuate success causing some to take short cuts or make desperate attempts to make a business work. In many cases these businesses either fail dramatically or the board will remove the CEO and place the care of the company in new hands.
This fear is only enlarged with you consider that many businesses saw loses of more than 50% between 2008 and 2009. This has had a devastating emotional impact on CEO’s and has shaken the confidence of investors. The CEO’s continue to scramble to find ways to regain success.
The Fear of Transparency
When dealing with large firms in a confidential way you might be asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. This assures the company that you will not be sharing the information you receive from them nor will you use it to gain personal benefit. There can be a lot to lose if a trade secret is stolen. Because of this fear many CEO’s will also avoid using traditional social media. You can understand their hesitation if you consider the variety of blogs that exist to simply expose information discovered about high profile individuals. The CEO’s may wish to engage in social media (and to be fair some are finding ways to do so), but in the end traditional social media lacks the privacy they need to be comfortable.
The Fear of Letting Others Down
CEO’s have families they want to take care of, they have employees they would like to retain, they have a board they answer to and they are the ‘go to’ individual when the toughest questions need an answer.
They are the bad guys when downsizing takes place and they are the scapegoat when things don’t go well.
It may be normal for most Americans to think of these top executives as being somehow immune from the struggles most of us face, but someone recently said something I think worth repeating, “Those who have the most have the most to lose.”
Anxiety is reaching all levels of the workforce. Employees are working harder and avoiding vacations in order to prove their worth to the company while CEO’s are simply working to find solutions to how to keep the business operational. I think it’s possible the largest residual payment for the recession is fear.
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