It’s who is behind the CEO that counts…
Chris Knudsen wrote a blog entry about a year ago about the difficulty of being a CEO. While I don’t argue that being a CEO is difficult, it’s the “specialists” and the “monday morning QBs” (as he puts it) that really allow the company to grow and be successful (Chris: I still love ya :)). Here are a few of the people in my life that work their tails off to make FundingUniverse (and me as the CEO) look good:
1. My wife: I don’t want to get too personal here (because I could go on all day about her), but my wife is truly amazing. Her support, encouragement, patience, and love is what motivates me and keeps me going.
2. My partners: Trent, Jeff, Briana, and Josh are incredibly talented. They have made a ton of sacrifices to make FundingUniverse into the company that it is today.
3. The team: when it comes down to it, you always need people on the ground (specialists) that are making things happen. We’ve got fantastic employees, partners, contractors, and advisors that know how to execute.
Sometimes the CEO will have a lot of people telling them how great they are and they soon begin to believe it. They forget that there are a whole lot of people at their side that are making things happen and ultimately results in them (as the leader) getting recognition.
Blake:
I think you misunderstood what I said in the post. Yes, specialist have their job and are an integral part of making an organization work. However, when they second guess the CEO or try to act like they know better than the CEO (which is what a lot of specialists do) without really sticking their own necks out or understanding the over all strategy - well I have a big problem with that.
Some people finds great comfort in working 9 - 5 and being critical of their organizations leaders. I used to be one of those guys. It wasn’t until I get in the CEO slot that I realized what a fool I was.
If you re-read the post I think you’ll see that’s what I meant.
@ Chris,
I appreciate the comment. To be honest, I didn’t intend to come out against you and create a controversy for page views (contrary to what other bloggers might think — especially Jason C.). Your post got me thinking and encouraged me to post a positive comment about my team members.
I agree with you when the 9-5ers are critical of their CEO or any leader — when that happens, the gossip & politics can very quickly hurt the company.
Chris: I’ve got nothin but love for you my friend.
Brock
Its all good!