Why the CEO Shouldn’t Also Be the Board Chair
hbr.org
Saved by Danielle Vermeer
Why the CEO Shouldn’t Also Be the Board Chair
Saved by Danielle Vermeer
Adding board members and having a large board come with their own problems. You need to have regular meetings, report on progress, build metrics, and discuss issues with a number of people. Depending on the stage, startups have anywhere from four to eight board meetings per year, which require a lot of preparation on the founders’ side.
The problem is that in addition to performing all of the activities needed for their individual BI project, they have also become the de facto program managers. Decisions related to tools and technologies, data architecture, technical standards, meta-data management, methodology, and other program-level activities are made by them.
The mistake I then made is a classic one. Instead of appointing a single managing director for the bank, I put a committee of four at the helm of the new entity: Botha Schabort, André la Grange, Charles Turner and Hugh Oosthuizen, all of them strong personalities. I thought the four divisions could work together well and with time the best guy woul
... See moreThe second reason I think it’s a bad idea is because the CEO ultimately does not have that many jobs, but I think culture is among them. And it ought not be delegated. Briefly speaking, I think there are five top responsibilities of a CEO: being the steward of and final arbiter of the senior management; being the chief strategist; being the primary
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