Good Idea, Chap: MOTs for CEOs

‘With great power comes great responsibility’

So has said Ben Parker, a great thinker of the Marvel dynasty.

The fact that the above notion, however, has been introduced by a fictional comic character does not make it any less true.

When in a position of power, a person gets easily infatuated by the mere thought that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, wherever he wants and to whomever he wants. And, judging by the recent web of events in, say, the banking sector, such pretences can turn into an apocalyptic reality.

We are all, through one medium or another, familiar with the great works of Mr Bob Diamond of Barclays, Mr Fred Goodwin of RBS and, last but most definitely not least, Mr Peter Cummings of HBOS. The said are a prime example of how a person can get drunk on power and forsake his responsibilities, great as they might be.

Trouble is, of course, that people such as the above were, and, alas, still are, very poorly regulated. Also, regardless of their blatant professional negligence, their reckless actions have not yet resulted in any criminal charges.

What they have resulted in, though, is a torrent of woes to the general public, the customers and the taxpayers (ESPECIALLY the taxpayers) and a landslide of shame to their employees.

Ms Kellaway is then right to point out that a company’s CEO is often one to be commonly disregarded and dangerously so ( < http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0c9bfea-fdb6-11e1-9901-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Cl8bbiFK > ). Even though I had severely criticised a previous article of hers (see my blog entry on 9/11/2012, In Pursuit of //Happiness// Perfection) it would seem that Ms Kellaway and I are on the same page this time.

In her article she offers a very commonplace and pragmatic solution to the problem of the ‘rogue’ CEO- a simple yearly ‘MOT’ test.

In effect, what the test might possibly amount to is a string of various assessment centres and external interviews and audits.

The important question, however, remains: what would those MOTs test?

Here are some ideas:

• CEO would be assessed on his knowledge of the business as a whole

• CEO would have to prove his devotion to the business by maybe presenting future plans to expand or improve its operations

• CEO would need to demonstrate a connection to his employees and a desire to improve their working environment and productivity

• CEO would be assessed on his commercial and current- affairs awareness (see how they like that!)

• CEO would have to show that he is fully aware of the extent of his current and future responsibilities and understands and respects that not adhering to those might have dire consequences for both him and the business

The above idea might sound farfetched to many mainly because a CEO would normally require a lot more maintenance than a car. Further, as Ms Kellaway has rightfully noted, an MOT is not required for cars which are less than three years old. With CEOs, of course, that requirement would need to be scrapped and the above tests introduced as soon as the CEO stepped into office.

To conclude, the emergence of MOTs for CEOs is but a matter of time. The businesses of today have started to realise that if they do not exercise a degree of control on their CEOs, and the power which they possess and exert on both an internal and an external level, the CEOs might one day decide to forsake their duties and responsibilities, embrace the business and go

To Hell With It!