Hi, I’m Chris, one of Micah’s bosses from back in the day. Since we are now both CEO’s, they wanted me to share a thought or two about what is so unique about executive teams. After serving on many teams before Micah entered the inner sanctum, they were pissed at me for not giving a heads up about the special mess behind these closed doors.
Once rewarded, they’ll do whacky things to hold onto their positions.
I’ve got two words for you: power and status. Whether consciously or not, that is what anyone who strives to sit on one of these teams is looking for. The authority to make big decisions, access to private information, membership in a very elite club, fancy titles, big money. In short, some very heady and attractive stuff. These are people who toiled away for years in hopes of the big payoff. Once rewarded, they’ll do whacky things to hold onto their positions.
Office politics before you are at the big table is child’s play compared to the extreme sports on the executive team. There is sabotage, back-stabbing and antics to curry favor with the CEO. Think high school seniors trying to be the prom king/queen’s bestie. It’s horribly transparent and reveals people’s insecurities.
To anyone outside the room banging on the door to get in, you imagine highly collaborative serious discussions about strategic decisions that consider the well-being of all. I’m not going to say that it never happens but it’s not the norm. That’s why Micah was so disappointed.
But it’s also what motivates both of us to do it very differently now. Power and status can be useful tools but without effective collaboration they can be destructive. Micah and I have firm guidelines for our teams: If you are not with us, then you are against us and you need to go.
