The Perils of CEO Worship - What Happens When the Leader Becomes Demented?

Introduction: the Cult of the CEOAlthough the US and most developed countries are nominally democratic, many of us seem to be again yearning for a man on a white horse, and in the current era, the horse ridden is corporate.On Health Care Renewal, we having been talking about this pheonomenon for a long time. We have written about it in terms ofthe messianic (or visionary, or charistmatic) CEO,CEO disease, and theimperial CEO.These concerns are diffusing into the broader media.  For example, from the introduction to a revent Vox article entitled "The Problem with CEO Worship"Society has always had heroes, be those of war or art or politics. But entrepreneurs are particularly suited for our current moment, in which success in business is our primary marker of achievement. Business acumen doesn ’t just get you money anymore; it can make you the most powerful man in the world.The signs of CEO worship are everywhere: unprecedented venture capital funding for founders, media overemphasis on company leaders, and to use the most extreme and obvious example, the election of Donald Trump.That article noted that CEO worship may overestimate the importance of leaders; create " secular fundamentalists " out of individuals; perpetuate destructive neoliberal ideologies; encourage CEOs to make worse decisions; and be bad for businessThose are not the only consequences.  CEO worship makes it possible for a progressively impaired leader to go unconstrained. Unfortunately, we may be...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: accountability anechoic effect CEO disease Donald Trump imperial CEO leadership Source Type: blogs