Sympathy for the boss

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Sep 16th 2008
From Economist.com

Even chief executives are human. Really


“IT’S lonely at the top. But at least there is something to read,” observed a tongue-in-cheek billboard advert for The Economist in 1990. Little did we know how lonely. Strip away the huge salary and the executive jet, and you find much solitary misery. According to “The Secrets of CEOs”, a new book based on interviews with over 150 current and former chief executives from around the world, “being a CEO should be one of the best jobs in the world. It offers the chance to make a real difference. However, real life for most CEOs is tough and many are not enjoying it.”

Even as they cheer on aspiring chief executives, the authors—Andrew Cave, a British journalist, and Steve Tappin, an executive headhunter—have devised a “CEO Health Warning” for those who would be corporate kings: “Even if you succeed in this role, you may ultimately be forced to leave it prematurely. There is a high risk that while in the role you will have a limited life outside work and that the job will put tremendous strain on your health, happiness, and close family relationships and friendships.” As the saying goes, if you want a friend, get a dog.

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Life can be tough at the topAround 50% of the chief executives interviewed said they found the job “intensely lonely” and did not know who to turn to for advice. A common response was, “I can’t talk to the chairman because in the end he’s the one who is going to fire me. I can’t talk to my finance director because ultimately I’m going to fire him, and I can’t tell my wife because I never see her and when I do, that’s the last thing she’ll want to talk about.”

Nor is there much time for a personal life, as they become 24/7 slaves to the job. (That said, mere mortals might regard playing lots of golf and indulging in other leisure activities designed to “deepen business relationships” as hobbies, and time spent with friends.)

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One typical example cited by Messrs Cave and Tappin is Peter Johnson, the former boss of Inchcape, a car dealer, who admits that “My wife has put up with God knows what. I was on a plane all the time, I was just never there. I once went to Australia twice in a week. I was on a plane to Japan three times in one month. Every Sunday night I was heading to airports and every Saturday morning I was arriving back at 5am.”

His solution? “I made a deal with her and said I am going to stop when I am 60.” That must have made her day. The demands of today’s global economy also require mobile families. Leigh Clifford, a former chief executive of Rio Tinto, a mining giant, says he and his wife have lived in 19 houses since marrying.

Curiously, despite also being married to the job, chief executives have a low divorce rate. Most of the chief executives interviewed boast of marriages of 20 years or more—though several of them admit to regret at seeing too little of their children as they have grown up.

Mervyn Davies, the chairman and former chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank, believes that one of the most important differentiators between good and bad international chief executives is their ability to sleep on a plane, which has a knock-on effect on their family life. “If you’re a bad traveller and run an international business, it’s a nightmare,” he says. “You’re not sleeping and you’re coming home wrecked.”

Other than getting hold of some Ambien, the chief executives interviewed by Messrs Cave and Tappin suggest three strategies in response to the CEO health warning: drive your own agenda, don’t let the business drive you; build an active support network; always be at your best (well, yes).

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The best bosses make time to be with their family, to think in solitude and to stay healthy. Techniques range from going to the gym or fishing to turning off the Blackberry (rumour has it that this is possible) and taking that dog for a walk.

Around 40% of FTSE chief executives have used a personal coach. (“It is extraordinary to think you can be excellent at something without a coach. The notion that Roger Federer would not have several coaches is ridiculous. One of the best things that happened to me was to get a coach,” says Richard Baker, a former boss of Alliance Boots, a pharmacy.)

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Typically, these coaches are mentors, but some bosses have sought other varieties of personal training. One (unnamed) FTSE chief executive told Messrs Cave and Tappin that he used an actress once a month to teach him how to act out the chief-executive role. “I am a very shy individual,” he reveals. “I would not naturally engage with people. It’s just a management style I have developed over the years. We all put on a show. We are all actors and I have learnt to act. The actress comes in and coaches me in body language, presentation style, and public speaking. I am an introvert and introverts get drawn in. I don’t need to have a high regard for friendships or closeness. I can retain my intellectual distance with people who work for me.”

So why do the job, given it is so lonely and miserable? And why cling to it so hard? After all, rare is the chief executive who gives up the throne without a fight. In his introduction to “The Secrets of CEOs”, Sir Richard Branson, boss of the Virgin companies, observes that “working is meant to be fun. We spend most of our lives working: what a shame it would be if you’re spending that time doing something you hate.”

Perhaps he is not alone. The thought occurs that, under fire for their huge salaries and other perks, chief executives have decided to talk up the misery of the job as part of a cunning public relations strategy.