As a CEO for 23 years, I have concluded that smart people in management can often do some pretty dumb things, sometimes Me included. Good management is about setting priorities and good old fashioned common sense and not just about numbers and stated objectives. Many times managers are so into their piece of the puzzle that they fail to see the big picture. Obviously, CEO's in particular are paid to see the big picture and bring focus, discipline and passion, the elements necessary to success in business and in life, into every business discussion.
And, when common sense is lacking, it can cause a CEO to talk louder as many times occurs when talking to someone who is deaf. People often believe if they just talk louder to a deaf person that the person will finally hear what is being said. The same can be true when discussing something important with a manager that just fails to listen to what is being said. This drives every CEO crazy.
Sometimes the building can be on fire; but managers fails to smell, or see the smoke around them because they are so busy focusing on their priorities, which for the moment may be irrelevant, than to recognize that the building is collapsing. Most CEO's would have no patience for this inability to properly prioritize work to deal with what is really important in terms of the mission of the organization.
Successful CEO's see the train coming long before anyone else even knows that there is a train on the track. Some managers never see the train coming until it runs them over in the form of a job termination and then they wonder what the hell hit them. Driving a CEO crazy is actually pretty easy. Any manager who lacks common sense, or who cannot prioritize work effectively, in keeping with the organization's mission, is probably headed for the unemployment line. If and when it happens, they are likely to be standing in line with other terminated employees that share the same weakness.
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