It's been a nasty month for some of the nation's high-profile CEOs, what with the ouster of Boeing CEO Phil Condit; the forced resignation of Conrad Black as CEO of media giant
Hollinger International Inc. -- after an internal probe found $32 million in unauthorized payments to him and other top executives -- and calls for the head of Disney Chief
Michael Eisner after Roy Disney, Walt's nephew, was banished from Disney's board. With investors growing increasingly impatient -- on top of Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg FD -- the
curtain has now closed on celebrity CEOs.
Now, a new CEO reputation study has found that 73% of CEOs have thought about calling it quits, a 35% increase over pre-Enron CEO responses in 2000. The survey, titled
"Building CEO Capital," conducted by global communications firm Burson-Marsteller, took the pulse of CEOs, senior executives, financial analysts/institutional investors, business
media and government officials.
The study shows several clear implications for senior communication executives, according to Pat Ford, chairman of Burson's U.S. Corporate Practice. "More than ever trust is
the number one driver in CEOs' reputations," he says, adding that in 1997 trust was the fifth most important factor among respondents. "Every senior communication executive should
be conducting a clear-eyed vulnerability assessment of their CEOs and their companies...The pendulum has swung to performance than rather vision. It's still important to have the
vision but what people are looking for now is the meat. The tendency might be for CEOs to lay low but people need to know their strategies and how they're implementing them." Here
a few of the additional findings that should concern CEOs - and the communication executives who deal with them.
- New CEOs have very little time to prove themselves - about nine months to earn employees' trust and to develop a strategic vision and a little more than a year to execute
on first-100 days promises. - CEOs are expected to spend 60% of their time on execution and 40% on strategic vision
- CEOs are "being kept awake at night" worrying about the competition (86%), growth (81%) and increasing shareholder value (80%). These skills require CEOs to have a more
complex skill set compared with two years ago.
Source: Burson-Marsteller