Is Simon Sinek Wrong About CEOs?
Jacob Morgan
Keynote Speaker, Professionally Trained Futurist, & 5x Author. Founder of "Future Of Work Leaders" (Global CHRO Community). Focused on Leadership, The Future of Work, & Employee Experience
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Last year, Simon Sinek shared a video saying that the title of CEO needs to go and be replaced by Chief Vision Officer.
He argued that every other title explains a person’s role--the CMO works in marketing, the CTO works in technology, etc. But when it comes to the CEO, most people don’t know what the role even means.
If the CEO’s role is to set the vision and inspire people, Sinek says they should be called the Chief Vision Officer.
I don’t agree.
I’ve talked to hundreds of leaders and employees around the world. Almost everyone knows the responsibilities of the CEO: set the vision, inspire people, guide the organization, and create a better world.?
The issue isn’t the title. It’s that we don’t hold the CEO accountable for doing what they should be doing.?
Changing the title isn’t going to make any difference.
We’ve got to go back to the foundation of leadership, including defining what it means to lead and be a leader. When we understand what it means to lead, we can put people in leadership positions who have the right skills and mindsets.?
Instead of promoting the most connected or most senior people, we need to promote people who are skilled at unlocking potential, seeing the big picture, and motivating others. And then we need to hold them accountable to do those things.
The CEO title isn’t the issue. And changing the title won’t change anything. We’ve got to re-think leadership and ensure we have the right people in leadership roles.?
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I put together a video which talks about this in more detail. Please check it out below and if you want more content like this?you can subscribe to my Youtube channel.
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The basic premise - that titles don't matter as much as the behaviors illustrated at that level - correlates with my own experience. How should our leaders be held accountable, if our culture glorifies Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried? It seems to me that a key part of it is to nurture the up and coming generation so that they have better guidance and role models.
Career & Job Search Strategist, Former Retained Executive Search, "Recruiting Insider".
1 年Simon Sinek is a former ad guy. And, what ad guys do is to create catchy, memorable phrases to get consumer to buy what they are selling. In Sinek's case, what he is selling is himself. He's not selling experience in business or in leadership.
analyst + strategic advisor | podcaster | #HCM #futureofwork #daydreamer
2 年How about Chief Decision Officer?
Lead-founder @insurtech + lead- or co-founder and advisor @startups > COO to CEO @eBay/PayPal subsidiary > senior manager for MDs and CxOs @Essent and @RWE/Innogy/E.ON > senior consultant @Booz&Co to principal @Chaucer
2 年I think the it is not about the name and usually not in the attitude of the CEO when he cannot set vision and enable people to thrive but it is how shareholders and supervisory board member set the overall agenda, his KPIs and their preferences, e.g. regarding communication, org chars etc.