How to raise the issue of a incompetent CEO?

November 12, 2008 4:36 AM

What is the best way to raise the issue about an incompetent CEO or the best strategy to work without being bothered by one?

I work for a small company - media group - and we mainly make new features for our news sites, upgrade old features and from time to time we make something entirely new.
To be short without putting the blame directly the problem that all of my colleagues and me face is when we develop something whether it is a design, concept, idea, marketing plan, usability analysis or sales pitch it has to be approved by the CEO. Then we have to make changes to our work at the last moment, changing the deadline and not having time to think enough. Most of the changes come without arguments and most of them seem silly and obviously wrong for a specialist in the field. We tried arguing our cases, we tried explaining but the demotivation is reigning all over the company now and nobody has enough passion after so many cries for sanity.
All this leads us to mediocre products and more lack of motivation and the company is losing face.
We work in a field that we like and company with that size but with good management can easily float up in the current state of our local market.

My point of view comes from two perspectives as I was first offered one managerial position directly under the CEO and I did this for three months after which I drew back to the position that I was originally called for an interview for - expert. This was cause because I was just bringing up some kind of structure for the teams when I was noticing that half of them have at least one task a day coming directly from the CEO without any coordination with me and also that all the bad stuff was supposed to go through me and all the deadlines which were not coordinated with the team were supposed to be enforced by me. I didn't feel this was right so now I am an expert and just try to argue my cases which most of the times are shattered without and reasonable argument - just some chaotic "creative" thinking and ideas.

I try to be reasonable ( read composed ) but this way of things happening keeps me from seeing my projects realised and I have serious problems with motivation.

I am looking for a way to raise this issue in a manner that is professional, non personal and effective in some way.

P.S. All kinds of notes about mistakes our CEO takes personally and gets angry even when put in writing, not pointed to somebody directly and with good factual arguments.

posted by tseo to work & money (12 comments total)

This is the kind of issue you bring up at your exit-interview when you leave for your exciting new job somewhere else. And only then if you don't foresee a need for a recommendation from your current employer, oh, ever.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:26 AM on November 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Welcome to life as a creative in a small business. I toiled as the company art department under exactly the same sort of CEO micro-management. And, just like you, my work (and portfolio) suffered.

In short, there's not a damn thing you can do about it except shrug and accept it, or quit. It's the CEO's prerogative to be so involved. Everyone involved knew his meddling held-back the effectiveness of the materials we produced, but that's just the way it was. Occasionally, we managed to get something through that actually worked, but those were few-and-far-between.

There is no career-safe way to raise this issue, especially in a small organization. Anything you say WILL get back to the CEO, and he will NOT take it as positive feedback.

About the only way to get anything done the way you want is to develop a project the way you think it should be done alongside his way. Then present both as options. OPTIONS. Do not imply your way is in any way superior. Of course, the end result may well be a frankenstein of bits from both pieces, but you will have gotten him to consider your ideas.

Of course, depending on his ego, he may well take even a second option a threat to his vision and take it very personally.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:56 AM on November 12, 2008

tseo, this is never going to be a workable situation for you. I was in a similar situation a few years back, and the owner/CEO of the company shot down a ground-breaking deal I put together on the grounds that he "didn't like" the kind of customers it would appeal to. That was pretty much the end of things there, I was just marking time after that, to be honest. Note that this was neither the first nor last serious disagreement we had, but it was the most flagrant.

So, in a small organization, you cannot work around the CEO. Take your skills, experience, and professional pride and go elsewhere. I understand that this may not be an easy thing to do in today's job market, so in the meantime keep your head down, smile, and say "yes, sir!".
posted by Mister_A at 6:13 AM on November 12, 2008

No. There is no way to bring up this issue that will affect you positively in any way. Either deal with it or find another job.
posted by drinkcoffee at 6:25 AM on November 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Look for another job. You can't fix the CEO.
posted by Miko at 7:01 AM on November 12, 2008

Is it his business? Then there isn't much you can do. In reality, there is hardly ever a good way to tell the boss that he is incompetent in a manner that is professional, non personal and effective in some way. Even less so when he owns the joint and signs your checks. From what I understand, this CEO micro-management is relatively common to smaller companies where the founder is still in control. It's hard to relinquish trust, duties and decisions when you've put so much of yourself into making the company just so. If you do not wish to work around it you should consider looking for another position.
posted by ml98tu at 9:14 AM on November 12, 2008

If you really like everything else about the job, you might go to the CEO and someone just under that box in the org chart. Sell the idea that you are very "process driven" and would like to put some things in place so you can provide better reporting on what your people are doing, create better budgets blah blah blah.

I'm not saying you'll be able to get the CEO to be accountable for his sign-offs and deadlines, but you might get the CEO to a middle-ground that you can live with. The key is to frame this process as a system that allows the "type" of person you are to do the best work for the CEO, not something the CEO is doing for anyone because he's all perfect and great.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 10:53 AM on November 12, 2008

The longer you stay here the worse your portfolio will be for the next job.
posted by Ookseer at 1:37 PM on November 12, 2008

If it's just the CEO's opinions against yours and your colleagues, you have no traction. If you do some good, front-end user research, it should yield solid principles and implications. Put those in front of the CEO, preferably backed up by some great stories from the field, video clips, and/or pictures and quotes, and get his buy-in on this foundation. Then, use the implications to generate features and offerings that fulfill real user needs. If your CEO wants to change the features and offerings at that point, you can refer back to the principles and implications that led to them. That way, it's your customers standing up for how it should be, not you and your colleagues. And conversely, if your CEO comes up with something that makes no sense, you should be able to refer back to principles that let your customers be the ones to tell him why. (Disclaimer: IAAUserResearcher, but IANYUser Researcher.)
posted by daisyace at 2:00 PM on November 12, 2008

Yeah, the sad truth is, you really can't fight the CEO. Since he's doing a rotten job and it bothers you, it's best for you to find a job somewhere else. If you stay, it will continue to affect your work and your creativity and your general outlook on life. Speaking of life, it's too short to be miserable in a job like this. Especially in a creative field like yours, where your ideas and creativity should be encouraged and rewarded, not lamely second-guessed at the last minute. Your CEO is such a loser, but unfortunately he is not the only CEO like that. :-)
posted by exphysicist345 at 4:42 PM on November 12, 2008

Call a meeting with the shareholders and bring specific, concrete examples.

First, find another job.
posted by sondrialiac at 10:07 AM on November 13, 2008

So the answer is do nothing, find another job.
I think for now I'll take it as it is and us it to train myself patience and workarounds.
Thanks for the advice:)
posted by tseo at 9:08 AM on November 17, 2008