Want to be a CEO? Become a master of paradox | Adam Bryant for Big Think+
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- Опубліковано 30 січ 2024
- Adam Bryant interviewed over 1,000 CEOs. These are the 3 critical skills to running a company.
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Adam Bryant was a journalist at the New York Times for nearly 18 years. In that time, he interviewed over 1,000 CEOs and found that each one had three key skills that keep their companies, their employees, and themselves, afloat.
According to Bryant, being a CEO isn’t all private jets and big checks. Since the pandemic, leadership has become even more challenging, as society has turned to companies for direction, support, and even solutions to global issues. Still, founders have found a way to thrive, thanks to these common characteristics.
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About Adam Bryant:
Adam Bryant joined The ExCo Group, a senior leadership development and executive mentoring firm, as managing director in 2017 after a 30-year career in journalism, including 18 years at The New York Times. In addition to his many roles there as a reporter and editor, he created the weekly "Corner Office" column, and interviewed 525 CEOs and other leaders over a decade. He has written four books based on the themes that emerged from Corner Office and from his four current interview series on LinkedIn with board directors, CEOs, CHROs and prominent Black leaders. His latest book, "The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership,” was published in July 2023 by Harvard Business Review Press. Adam is the senior adviser to the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University.
03:30
1. Simplifying complexity
2. Being fully accountable
3. Listen to stakeholders
Most of these comments are focusing on CEOs of established corporations. Just a reminder that there are varying types of CEO....
1. Founder CEOs who have built things from scratch spending 60-100 hours a week of work.
2. Interim CEOs - those that are shoved to the roles because of internal corporate situations
3. Professional CEO - these are hired CEOs with track records to scale current businesses
These types all deserve what they are paid for on the varying levels of their responsibilities. So rather than criticize the titles, look behind its job role so you can truly understand what it takes to be one.
60 hours? I spend minimum 90 and maximum 120
Ability to embrace complexity in oneself, others and life in general is a top hardest and rarest trait do have.
Great vid, big think.
"complain when things are going great, boast when not" looking at this video, i have the impression that being the CEO of an established company is the best job ever.
The ability to embrace complexity in oneself, in others, and in life in general is not only one of the most difficult and rare qualities, but the answer to the question raised by yesterday's experience. All are daily practices, and only time brings that to man.
*My Key Take-aways:*
1. See the paradox as a balancing act
2. People want to be heard, listen as an act of openness, kindness and respect.
3. Be driven by a purpose that rings true to you (usually for the greater good of people).
I wish you all the best in your individual journeys, take good care and enjoy!
The best CEO's are the ones you don't even know off. They let their companies/business speak for them.
Doesn't make sense
The more you have to manage people the worse job you are doing. If you hire the right people and ensure they have the right training, they won't need much managing.
Like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma ? Sure they are absolute shite
Adam Bryant's column, "The Corner Office', in the NYT's was a must read for me every Sunday morning. His questions were excellent and It always contained an interesting response and/or insight by the guest. Unfortunately, the column was not the same after his departure ... not even close. This video, which I accidently stumbled upon, has reminded me how much I enjoyed his work. I need to find more.
This channel has re-strategised itself well. Great interviews at the start, went through a lull period and now providing interesting interviews again.
Give it a month, its an election year so they'll be back out with the talking points soon just like the pandemic
Nah fuck ceos
Lots of what he said is spot on. Being a CEO is really difficult!
Blather about "leadership" (is synergy out of fashion now) in the face of quiet quitting and the great resignation.
Sure sounds like leadership to me.
Most CEOs have no clue about leadership. They just look after Number 1 and screw anyone who gets in their way.
It just brings into question is this even remotely the right way to organise large companies. If you have 1000 employees can you really understand the complexity, know what goes on and be accountable for everything? How can you possibly listen to 1000 people every day? So the central paradox of being a good CEO is we shouldnt depend on a CEO being good
Boom.
"you gotta be human" yessh
Because he knows they have zero humanity and will do anything for more profit.
THANK YOU!!👍👍👍👍
I cried when Dick Fuld got to walk away with only $400-million from Lehman Brothers . . . :-)
The CEO job is exactly the kind of job that I would love!
It depends on your personality type/character, and what kind of things you enjoy thinking about, and using your brainpower on.
But I'm sure it can totally be a pain in the backside, maybe even most of the time, esp when you're the founder.
Companies should solve issue for the country. Companies are our leverage point since the US Sup. Court decided companies are people. They control politician and so consumers must turn to, ask and even boycott companies who are willing to act in the best interest of the country.
A very good insight.
Thanks!
This video just further confirmed me wanting to be a CEO. Call me crazy, but I'd love to feel that type of pressure. I want to lead through uncertain times.
I know I can.
I am not a CEO, but I agree with what the person is saying. It is a multi dimensional balancing act.
Respect to all good CEO's, they keep our jobs with their management decisions. It must be hard, they deserve the bonus and more. Thank you to all the good CEO's.
while CEO jobs are important and tension-filled (the right CEO can certainly add lots of value to a company), I think the most notable problem with them is how their pay has become increasingly delinked with actual company performance. and with the advent of maximizing shareholder value at any cost, ofc CEOs became subservient to just that interest. we now know that that is not only a moral issue, it's very much bad business strategy and doesn't work in the long run. the responsibility of a CEO needs a desperate rethink.
All CEOs care about are their companies' stock prices, profits, and their bonuses for boosting profits and stock prices. To that end, their playbook seems to only include laying off workers, buying companies so they cab sell off pieces of those companies and layoff workers, merge with other companies so they can sell off pieces of both companies and layoff workers, engineer stock buybacks. Most of them seem to have no idea how to actually compete in a capitalist system.
When you see stock footage taken in your old University. Weird.
It takes a psychopath
It better be incredibly difficult for that amount of money and power
Most of paradox is in political leader, they can make particular things as a whole things
Interview 1000 low income ppl and you’ll see real challenging jobs/life.
What is the background music used in the first part? @bigthink
"Winter" by Antonio Vivaldi...
Thank me later...😇
CEOs have one of two objectives: What’s best for the company and everything else is expendable or what’s best for themselves and everything else is expendable. If they appear to like people it’s to get something from them. It really requires a person of zero morals and zero empathy.
"...it [being a CEO] really requires a person of zero morals, and zero empathy". It does seem that way sometimes, doesn't it? And if they do have a shred of these qualities, they resort to using rationalizations 🙁
Heavy is the head that’s a ceo
"Companies were still largely run on the militaristic model..." and many are still today, when clearly we understand how command -> control / "thinker" -> "doer" formal structures are fragile in the face of volatility, uncertainty, and true complexity. That was fine for widget-making; we're not in that world today. Why is the role of CEO even a given?
So out of curiosity, who or what position do you think should lead the company?
@@theolumy8627 I'll recommend one of the resources that originally got me thinking about alternative structures: Corporate Rebels. Their work highlights many structures that successfully operate (at scale!) without traditional management arrangements. One example is the healthcare company, Buurtzorg, which has over 14,000 people organized in a highly autonomous network--with a central support team of ~ 20 coaches and two directors.
In the US, for-profit companies can choose to operate as certified Benefit Corporations in most states, and directors/officers can be arranged as needed, but there's no requirement for a "CEO".
The military have long gone past using the command and control model for many decades. Althought the Russians have stuck with it in Ukraine....
CEO job is like the actual brain. It is a fatty meat but it does things that non parts of the body does.
“Business is being ask to solve the big problems….” ah shouldn’t they have been doing that anyway? It’s called taking responsibility for the world in which you live. By the way businesses are not being asked to solve the big issues - they are acting on it because there is money in it.
Yeah Sir quite impressive for paradox
Golden parachute baby
Oh poor CEOs, i geel so lucky thst I'm the last of the last of my company's structure.
What a ton of bullcrap 💩💩💩
If you are into fantasy there is this story of a ceo that gets reincarnated into the past when he was a starting employee of that company. The name of the manhwa is " A man's man"
How tragic, lets pay them more
Most CEO's are psychopaths. What we need is to do is figure out how to choose leaders that are actually good, and not just looking out for the ingroup (themselves, the board and the "stock market").
And it makes sense. Many of the psychopatic traits (especially lack of fear, need for stimulation, shallow emotion, charm, lack of very minimal empathy) are useful for what a CEO of a large company does: making decisions efficiently. Too much fear delays or halt decision-making, the complexity of company activities cannot be handled by someone who just likes to take it easy while the competition is trying to kill, you cannot be too emotional when coming up and making decisions, and without charm it will be difficult to sell hard decisions, too much empathy will limit what you can do because every decision will have a negative effect on someone inside and outside of the company.
The competitive nature of business enterprise requires a different kind of person and therefore a different kind of leader. Should we test for psycopathy and prevents them from becoming CEO? If you want businesses to fail, sure. The key should be having a board that can balance those traits. The problem is that most shareholders are actually worse than the CEO because they feel safe supporting a bad CEO (bad in that he makes decision with zero empathy and purely for personal gain) because they are hidden. If we can put major share/stockholders on the spotlight too you will see that it is not really just the CEO having psychopathic traits that is the main problem. A CEO remains accountable to sharehodlers but shareholders are willing to look the other way when they know they are going to make a bigger margin. The thinking that the CEO is just the leader we should be watching is how most companies get away with destroying the planet. In the face of bad publicity a company just replaces a the CEO but the people who should have known what the company was and is doing are still there.
You read Corruptible? :)
The Chomsky book?
"What we need to do is figure out how to choose leaders that are actually good". Words that mean nothing. You're clearly broke and living paycheck to paycheck. Go be woke somewhere else.
Ohhh
The paradox with CEOs is they talk a lot and say little of substance, act like they're intelligent but just follow fads, act like they're ethical until you learn more, act like they're willing to make tough choices until tough situations come. Ultimately those that make it there are just the ones who liked playing the game it took to get there.
Far from true in my experience having worked directly with multiple CEOs
Which is why real people have no respect for them, unless they are deceived fans.
I feel like he only beat around the bush and said nothing of substance in the end
I wonder if the full length interview feels any clearer?
Cos you’re clearly not a ceo. A lot of this was spot on.
Master of paradox 😂
I agree.. 5 mins i am never getting back.
Just like a CEO
Radical Candor is a good book to read about this as well
To become ceo you just have to learn how to dodge reasonable fact
Dividends are what got me into investing in the stock market. The thing to me is, if you invest and have other income outside of dividends then you will be able to live off dividends without selling. Which means you can pass that on to your kids which will give them a leg up in life. Have over $600K in my portfolio
as I bought a lot of dividend stocks before, I'm buying more now, and I will buy more when it drops further.
Analysing bitcoin and its carbon footprint is not an environment world business watch all we need is an establishment investment I made over a thousands of doll..
I subscribed for a few trading courses but it didn't help much, been getting
suggestions to use a proper financial advisor, how did you go about touching base with your adviser
No one knows what is around the corner for this present Market. One only has to invest at their own risk or trade with a professional trader.
Everything is down right especially SEC lawsuit against Binance and Coinbase situation which is the perfect time to trade crypto! Don't sleep on these opportunities!
Elizabeth Rossiello is the licensed fiduciary I use. Just research the name. You'd find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.
Stop giving them credit all they did was to start charging people for literally everything first google and then apple you either get 2-3 ads or have to pay for half of features even after paying almost 1300-1500 $
Every CEO I know delegate, and get paid a lot to do so.
It isn't about delegating work to people.
It is about delegating the right work to the right people. Something you can't even begin to imagine until you are one.
@@alexsolosm really? You don’t know me.
Don't generalize. Have you been a CEO, if yes, then I will probably believe you. 😂
Funny thing is, no bady here is a CEO of a Big Corporate 😂
CEO's being held accountable? Why the lies, guy?
Glad I’m not the only one who thought that accountability talk was some kind of sick joke
No.instead, I want to be a CFO.
24 hours constant stress and trade off- simply dont have the emotional intelligence to become one
False, everyone would want the CEO job when they see not just the pay but also the severance they'd get if they fail...not to mention CEO's delegate 95% of the work anyway.
Until you do then you don't anymore
Delegation of 95% of tasks is the largest misconception people have about CEO’s. Those tasks you think are 95% of their work are really just the 5% tip of the iceberg that you see coming out of the water.
They get a Golden Parachute even if they run a corporation into the ground.
Have you ever had a leadership position?
@ Yes, ran businesses, sat on boards and helped to create a noprofit. Why would you assume otherwise? You make yourself rediculous.
Skynet will be the ceo now. Look at me……. I’m the CEO now. 😊
bruh stop venerating CEOs bruh fr bruh on God they're salary men
The B-roll for this item is so bad that it makes the entire story super cringe, and the story itself is already quite cringe to begin with.
Which free stock site did the firstday intern get it from?
Wow, the number of salty people in this comment sections makes you why people go to supermarket for salt.
Open your eyes. You'll realize why they're so salty
They're salty because they called bullshit?
❤️☀️🌙
Heavy is the crown, sort of thing👑
Do you know what's harder than anything mentioned in this video? Work 12 hours a day and still don't have enough money to sustain your family. And be honest, most CEO got to their position by indication, not competence, and their delegate most of his work and anything that goes wrong to somebody else
I love the idea of leading I am just afraid of the mental tole it can have on you
Two burnouts later, I am happy you are conscious of that danger
What stress do you have when the law covers your ass when you mess up?
You Love Trump ?
Turn off the
Supper Bowl 😂
Nice try to humanize the CEO.
Not a chance.
Most CEOs are psychopaths.
Don’t paint in so broad a brush. Every company needs a leader. You can argue all day about whether or not executive compensation is within the realm of the reasonable or proportionate to the value the average CEO adds for all _stakeholders_ (rather than shareholders)… I’d guess most people other than CEOs, board members, and institutional investors would argue it’s not.
However, someone has to do the job, and we should not discount the difficulty of the role, nor the humanity of the person doing it. Acknowledging that difficulty does not mean we have to ignore the problem of horrendous and worsening income inequality largely due to the difficulty of legislating/policing multinational corporations who are, 99.999% of the time, functionally beholden to no one but their shareholders.
As they say, heavy hangs the head who wears the crown, aka it’s lonely at the top. This is not an apology. It’s a reality.
CEOs being accountable? yeah, right. Only to the shareholders. gotta get those profits up boys! what a boring video 👎
Let me guess, this guy is slling conferences to CEO’s. What a waste of time.
Are you an employee of a company or a solopreneur? The statement reveals a context missing awareness of what a leaders role entails.
@@DobosSArpad I am in the medical field. I make hard decisions for a living. Occasional high stakes life/death. What he says is not wrong; I do not see the value. He did not say anything novel or valuable to me.
What a load of baloney...
I can't believe how much this channel has fallen in terms of the quality of its content. It has completly turned into a boot licking corporate ideology factory. Here's my unsubscription.
💩💩💩 unsubbed
Not true for the most part… sad
propaganda
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla, the reality is you need connections, privileged family background and so forth in order to get into top positions
For the traditional CEO and executives you may be right, those are not worth interviewing. But for self-made CEO is a very stressful work. I have met a few of them
Idiotic title.
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