Why Some CEOs Can Be Perceived as Jerks

I’m not sure if I should write this post as it’s brutally honest, but I think it needs to be written on behalf of all of the excellent CEOs out there.

Just the other day, I had a disagreement with one of our developers about something that was not completed that I specifically asked to be placed as a priority.

After a couple of hours, I asked the developer if the issue was fixed and how was the progress on the other task he was working on.

Turns out the developer didn’t bother to prioritise specifically what I asked for.

Here’s the developers logic.

“Because if I concentrated on this one task, and would stop doing this other task that I was working on previously, it would take more time to resume working on it later”

I quickly and vehemently corrected our developer.

“I don’t want excuses, I want our customer's problems fixed first, I’ve already mentioned to you previously — if it affects our customers….it is to be prioritised”.

CEOs can also be perceived as jerks by their suppliers too. I’m willing to you bet a doughnut you’ve heard at least one story of other CEOs who have been sensationalised by the media.

One classic example is the below story about Steve Jobs.

When VLSI technology (a chip company) was having challenges delivering chips on time. Jobs stormed into a meeting and screamed “fucking dickless assholes”. The company ended up getting the chips to Apple on time, and the team's executives made jackets that boasted on the back “Team FDA”.

Although this is a funny story. There are two really important elements we can from this story.

1. It’s clear….pressure can make amazing things happen, and it’s necessary. Pressure creates diamonds after all.
2. If it affects customers, CEOs may just be more likely to exert this pressure — whether internally or externally.

Here’s the challenge.

Developers, Project Managers, Project Co-ordinators and other job roles have never had customer-facing jobs. They don’t feel the heat when something goes wrong. They don’t understand the pressure that customers can place you under. The only way they feel the pressure is when someone (usually their superior, exerts that pressure).

Here’s the solution to the problem.

1. If you’re a good CEO, you will automatically and naturally exert pressure on your team for the benefit of the customers. Because the customer's pain is also your pain.
2. Reiterate the customer-first culture in your values and do team exercises around your values.
3. Do what Zappos does. Make everyone who joins the company work in customer service, to begin with, so they can have empathy for your customers. (This is harder when you’re a new startup and have 50,000 things to prioritise.).

As you can see, it’s easy for CEOs to be sensationalised for being jerks. But maybe they just care more than anyone else in the company about your customers, which is what every good CEO should automatically do.

P.S This post does not excuse any CEOs who are actually jerks who end up on the front page of major news publications.