CEO SPECIAL ..............CEO AS THE STRONGMAN BOSS

CEO AS THE STRONGMAN BOSS





Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University on why people still prefer hierarchical structures

I hear examples illustrating the changing nature of CEO influence all the time. There are social movements that promise to disrupt traditional, social and political hierarchies. There are the new ways of working, as free-lancers and independent contractors, with no boss except oneself. Many of the changes afoot in workplaces and society more generally are encapsulated in the phrase, “new power,“ both to distinguish it from “old power“ and to capture the excitement and promise contained in that magical single word, “new.“ As summarised by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms in their Harvard Business Review article, “new power...is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven,“ while “old power...is held by few. Once gained, it is jealously guarded...and leader-driven.“

Like much of the writing about leadership, where traits such as modesty and truthfulness are widely advocated but missing in actual leaders, arguments about the changing nature of power tend to be light on confronting the assertions with the facts. Businesses, with very, very few exceptions, still have single CEOs, not shared power arrangements.Senior executives still value loyalty as one of the more important and useful qualities a subordinate can possess.

And as for the devolved, democratic business structures--they exist, but for the most part remain economically trivial. There are examples of self-published books that became commercial successes and Youtubeoriginated content that made their creators into household names. But for the most part, entertainment remains under the control of large corporations, albeit with some new players such as Amazon and Netflix joining the traditional movie studios and television networks, even as consolidation in the publishing industry continues apace. Peer-topeer lending and investment vehicles may become important, but at the moment they are tiny compared to traditional banks, venture capital firms, and private equity companies.

Traditional hierarchical arrangements are amazingly durable--even if no one seems to like them -and hold across countries and cultures and over time as well.

That's because research shows that people, confronted with the necessity of accomplishing a task, voluntarily choose hierarchical structures even if such arrangements are not imposed on them. People seek to bask in reflected glory and, even more fundamentally, want to ensure their own success and survival by associating with others who look like they are tough and strong enough to prevail in conflicts and crises. So people flock to “strongmen“ (or women) even if such individuals do not exhibit the characteristics people claim to want in leaders.

Unfortunately, I see the consequences of people believing the “new power“ narrative all the time as otherwise hard-working, intelligent individuals lose their jobs or promotion opportunities because they don't believe and then act on the realities of an old power world.

So, meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.And most importantly, don't get fooled again by stories about some relatively rare examples of a new power world. Mastering the important skill of managing organisational dynamics requires understanding the realities of human psychology and behavior. Which requires paying attention to the evidence, not the uplifting rhetoric.

ET30DEC15