The C-Suite Brilliance Myth
Why Most C-Suite Executives Are Useless And Why We Believe They Cause Company Success When They Actually Slowly Kill Companies
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The C-Suite Brilliance Myth
Why Most C-Suite Executives Are Useless And Why We Believe They Cause Company Success When They Actually Slowly Kill Companies
We have All Heard the Stories...
A C-Suite Executive had an Idea...
That Idea Changed the World...
And Due to their Continued Excellence in Leadership in Guiding their Company...
The Company has Continued to have Untold Success.
Their Innovative Thinking has Kept their Organizations at the Top of their Industries.
Their Tough Decision Making has Kept them Alive through Difficult Times and Tough Competition.
They are Brilliant Minds and because of this...
We Should Hang Onto Every Single Word and Idea that they Have...
Maybe by Doing This...
A Tiny Seed of their Incredible Brilliance, Innovative Thinking, and Ingenuity "Might" Spread to Others.
But what if I Told You...
It was all a Facade...
A Lie...
Manufactured to Make Us Believe these Individuals are "Incredible"...
And Perhaps Somehow Even "Superhuman"...
When the Reality is that They Have No Idea what they are Doing...
With the Entirety of their Success having Nothing to Do with their Decisions or Capabilities as Leaders...
Which those Decisions and Capabilities as Leaders are Actively "Hurting" their Organization's Future...
Making them Truly Useless to their Organizations.
Then...
If this is So...
How Did We All Fall for the Lies?
How have We become So Thoroughly Bamboozled that We Have Not Seen It?
All of this has to do with a Few Misunderstandings of Business Principles that have been Passed Down Mixed with Normal Parts of Human Psychophysiology.
To Understand, let's begin with the Concept of Leadership.
As the World Transitioned form the Manufacturing Economy to the Knowledge Economy...
A New Belief Began to Grow...
Brilliance, Intelligence, and Knowledge would Dominate the Next Era of Successful Businesses.
Whichever Businesses would Rise to the Top...
Would have the Greatest "Knowledge Workers".
This was also Mixed with the Growth in the Concept of "Leadership" and "Leadership Development" which Replaced "Management Development".
The Idea was that Manager Created Efficiency within the Manufacturing Economy...
But to Change the Next Era of Work with the Knowledge Economy...
We would Need to Rely on Individuals with Extreme Vision and Foresight to "Lead" Us Into this Next Era...
They would Need to be the "Most Brilliant" of the "Knowledge Workers".
By Being the Most Brilliant in their Domains, they would Naturally Rise to the Top.
Their Incredible Leadership would "Attract" the Next Most Talented Knowledge Workers, Seeking to Learn from "The Best"...
Similar to how Apprenticeships in Trade Crafts used to Work back in "Ye Olden Times".
So, by Having the Leaders' Presence attracting the Majority of the Best Knowledge Works...
By Default "Those" Would be the Organizations that Rise to the Top.
This was also Mixed with a Belief that Stocks should be Placed in the Most Successful Companies...
A Great C-Suite Team, and Especially CEO, would be Responsible for Stock Performance Increasing.
As Long as the Company Continues to Improve...
Their Stocks Go Up...
And the Leaders of the Organizations are then Believed to be the Ones Responsible for the Growing Success of the Company as Seen through Increasing Stock Performance.
Hence, we begin to See the "Cult of the CEO", which we can Expand to the "Cult of the C-Suite."
But Here's the Problem...
None of this is How Company Success Works in Reality.
None.
So, How Does Business Success Truly Work in Reality?
To Understand This, You Need to Understand Business Ecosystems and Category Design.
All Ecosystems, including the Business Ecosystem, Work off of the Same Principle...
Some Organism...
Which a Business, for Our Purposes, can be Considered an Organism...
Finds a Role to Fill within the Ecosystem.
Once they Succeed in Filling that Role?
They are Rarely Removed.
Any other Organism that is "Similar" has One of Three Options...
Fill a Slightly Different Role...
Merge with the Organism that has Already Filled the Role...
Or Become Eliminated.
So, let's look at Africa to Understand This...
There is One Primary Predator on the African Savannah.
The Lion.
Now, arguably, The Lion is Not the Best Predator in the World.
Many people would say that a Tiger is a Better Predator Overall.
But if You Dropped a Tiger in the Middle of the African Savannah, what would happen?
It is Possible that a Tiger would Survive for a while in the Savannah Wild.
Possibly Taking some Individuals Lions with It...
But it would be Far More Likely that a Group of Lions would Eventually Eliminate the Tiger.
There is a Small Possibility that the Tiger could "Join" a Lion Pride, though, and Produce Liger Offspring...
Then, potentially, a Female Liger could Continue to Produce More Offspring from there.
Of course, this has Never Occurred in the Wild because Lions and Tigers Exist within Different Ecosystems that Do Not Naturally Overlap in Today's World...
But Evidence from Captive Tigers, Lions, Ligers, Tiligers, and Liligers suggests it is Possible...
And We have Seen within Sapien Populations that Neanderthals and Denisovans have Interbred and Merged with Homo Sapiens...
So these types of Mergers are Possible within Ecosystems.
But what about Populations where Mergers are Not Possible?
Well, since the Lion is so Well Established in the African Savanah, it is "Extremely" Unlikely for Any Other Predator to "Take" that from the Lions...
So, what we See is that Other Predators "Fill" Other Roles.
Crocodiles Hunt within the Water.
Hyenas have Adapted the Ability to Eat Almost Anything.
Cheetahs Focus on Smaller and Faster Prey.
These other Predators Survive because they Fill Other, Smaller Niches within the Ecosystem.
But they Do Not Overthrow the Lion.
Business is No Different.
Microsoft Windows is the "Lion" of Computer Operating Systems, with an Estimated 69% of the Market Share of Operating Systems...
Which they Earned when they Focused on "Personal Computers".
Now, some people would argue that Mac OS or Linux OS are Better...
But it Does Not Matter because the "Lion" is Already Established.
When it comes to Mobile Operating Systems, the "Lion" is Android Mobile OS with an Estimated 71% of the Market Share of Mobile OS.
Also Beating Out Apple...
So Why is Apple So Successful?
They have a Different "Niche" which, Ironically, is called the "Apple Ecosystem".
Where Microsoft generally has the Best Computer OS, and Android has the Best Mobile OS...
These Different OS Systems have Trouble "Speaking" to Each Other...
So Apple Made It Simple to Connect Information Across Devices...
On top of Making their OS "Extremely" Simple in Comparison to the Complexity of Microsoft's or Android's Ecosystems.
This makes it "Very" Difficult for Users "In" the Apple Ecosystem to "Leave"...
Even if they "Know" there is Better Technology.
Each Organization has Found their "Role" within their Ecosystems, which is Maintained.
When we Look at Category Science, which looks at the Economics of Different Categories, this makes Perfect Sense.
According to them, a Category King/Queen Company will Own, on Average, 76% of the Categories Economics.
Microsoft with 69%...
Android with 71%...
The Numbers Fit.
But this Begs the Question...
How Do Things Change?
In Both Category Science and Ecosystems...
The Answer is the Same...
Fundamental Change to the Ecosystem.
The Dinosaurs went Extinct because their Ecosystem Fundamentally Changed in a Way that they Could No Longer Survive.
Blockbuster went Extinct because their Ecosystem (Video Rental) Fundamentally Changed (Streaming) in a Way they Could No Longer Survive.
When a New Category Emerges, that is Accepted as Fundamentally Better...
A New Category King/Queen can be Crowned.
Now, One of Two Things Tends to Happen Here...
Either the Former King/Queen Goes Extinct, as Blockbuster Did...
Or...
The Current Category King/Queen can "Merge" with the Rising Competitor.
We have Seen this Repeatedly with Meta.
What has "Facebook" Done that has been Innovative Since the Early 2000's?
Nothing.
Facebook Works Nearly the Same as it Did Back then, with only some Minor Adjustments that have Occurred.
But Meta has Remained Relevant by Purchasing Companies that Threatened to Extinguish their Category...
Better to Merge than to be Replaced.
So Meta Purchased Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus.
But here's the Interesting Thing...
All of these Were Considered Innovative Before being Merged with Meta...
But what has Happened Since?
No Innovation.
All of these Mergers have Stagnated Since Being Purchased.
Is Meta's C-Suite Leadership Designing Category-Changing Innovations?
No.
They are Simply Sitting on the Laurels of their Previous Success, and Merging with Other Companies when there is a Threat to their Ecosystem.
When You Look at All of the Major Companies where We Pay Close Attention to their C-Suite Executives...
We See the Same Thing.
All of these Companies have Created a Category which Fundamentally Changed the Business Ecosystem...
Then, they Have Remained there Since.
Nothing Truly Innovative has Changed That.
None of their Later Decisions have Changed That.
All that has Occurred is that These Companies Maintain their Place within their Ecosystem.
Some have Merged when their Categories have been Threatened.
We Even See that there are Quite a Number of Companies that Do Not Even "Have" Financial Success...
Their Revenue Numbers being "Negative"...
Their Growth is Not a Factor of New Success, but Changes in the Overall Economy...
So What Maintains These Companies?
Stocks and Stockholders.
These Stockholders give Money to Businesses with the Expectation that, Over Time, the Company's Success will make the Stocks "Valued" Higher...
Which is All About Perception rather than Results.
We have Seen with Many "Unicorn" Companies that have Failed to Generate Revenue, Relying "Completely" on the Perception of Value "and" Massive Capital Injections to Maintain that Perception.
Within these Situations, the C-Suite is Not Doing Anything that is Expanding the Success of the Company...
All that is happening is that the C-Suite Executives of these Companies have Established a Category, Profitable or Not, which is "Perceived" as Being "Valuable" to Shareholders...
But the Shareholders Now Have Two Psychological Biases Working Against Them...
There is the "Repetition Fallacy", which is a Bias where when we "Hear" Something Over and Over Again we are More Likely to Believe It...
Even if it is Completely False.
What is it they Hear Repeated?
If a Company's Stock Goes Up, then the Leaders are the Ones Responsible...
When in Reality the Stock Goes Up because of the Company Owning the Category, Overall Economic Growth, and the Second Psychological Bias...
The Sunk Cost Fallacy.
As Shareholders "Put" More into a Company, they "Need" that Company to Succeed to Justify How Much they Put Into It...
So they Put "More" Capital into the Company...
Which Increases the "Perception" that the Company is More Valuable...
Which Creates a Self-Justifying Loop to Continue the Pattern.
But "All" of this has "Nothing" to Do with the C-Suite Leaders' Decisions.
It Gets Worse Though...
Remember the Repetition Fallacy?
What happens when We Believe and Say that a Company's Success is Because of the Decisions of the C-Suite Executives?
The C-Suite Executives Begin to "Believe" that "They" are Indeed the Reasons for the Success of their Organizations.
What does this Do?
In Today's World, it seems to Create an Organization that becomes Led by Individuals with Gigantic Egos who "Believe" that "They" are Unstoppably Successful.
They Begin to "Believe" the Myth that "They" are Brilliant.
So what does this Do?
It Plays Into Another Bias...
The Confirmation Bias.
They Believe that "They" are the Reasons for Success...
So they are "More Likely" to Believe Individuals who "Confirm" that Bias...
But Less Likely to Believe Individuals who "Deny" that Bias.
Over Time, this Leads to Leaders Surrounding Themselves with Sycophants.
But Here's the Problem...
Sycophants Do Not Actually "Care" About the Leaders...
They Care About Themselves.
This, Inevitably, Causes the Organization to Make Extremely Poor Decisions...
Which "Must" Be Right because the Company's Valuation is Increasing, which is because of "Their" Decisions...
(When in Reality, None of that is True)...
Which Ends Up Creating an Extremely Toxic Workplace Overtime.
Sycophants Know that "They" Only Remain in the Organization as long as they "Play Along" with the Demands of their Leaders...
The C-Suite becomes Egotistical, and Eventaully Become Tyrants as they become So Far Removed from Reality and Forget Who is Doing the "Real" Work of Keeping the Company Going...
The Employees...
Who Always get the Short-End of the Stick because the "Cult of the C-Suite" Continues to say that the "C-Suite" is the "Reason" for the Growing Valuation.
Which Leaves the Employees Limited in their Choices.
They can Become Sycophants and "Hope" to Rise in the Ranks so that they Enjoy the Higher Tiers of the Organization...
They can Become Burnt Out from their Maltreatment, which Diminishes their Productivity Potential to 5% based on the Scientific Research.
Or they can Leave, and Either Hope to Rise the Ranks in Another, Similar, Organization...
Or Start their Own Business...
Which will Only Succeed...
"If" they Find their Niche within the Current Ecosystem...
"Or" they Create a New Category that Fundamentally Changes the Ecosystem.
But Until Then...
This Organization that is in Question is Decaying from the Inside.
Literally Dying.
All that is Keeping It Afloat is the "Perception" that it is Valuable, and the Biases which Continue to "Justify" the Need for the Organization to Remain.
It is Becoming a Zombie Business, Fueled by a Rot Economy which "Values" things which Provide No Deep Value to Us as Humans.
This Means that the Company is Completely "Losing" the Ability to Adjust, Adapt, and Innovate as it Dies from Within.
Sometimes that Death is "Extremely" Slow...
Sometimes taking Years...
But the Death is Imminent.
Because the C-Suite Leaders are Actively Killing the Companies.
They Are Not Brilliant.
They are Actually Useless to the Success of the Company...
They are, Sometimes Unknowingly, Becoming Straw Men and Women to Maintain the Perception of Brilliance and Success of their Decisions...
Making Decisions that Appease their Stakeholders while Waiting for the Economy or Category to Grow...
Which Maintains the Star Men and Women Perception so they can Go On to Continue to Appear Brilliant.
When in Reality, they are Not and Have Not been Doing Anything Positive for those Organizations.
In Reality, they are Creating a Graveyard, filled with Wandering Zombies, waiting to Become Irrelevant.
They Might "Bite" Another Company, and Merge with them to also make them a Zombie Business...
But that Simply Creates a Larger Graveyard.
Now...
Here's the Problem...
The World is beginning to See the Truth.
More People are "Recognizing" this Reality.
They See that Something is Horribly Wrong...
And they are Starting to Seek a New Solution.
That Solution will Fundamentally Change the Entire Business Ecosystem...
Because the Business Ecosystem of Today Thrives on the Rot Economy.
The Whispers of the Future are Already Here...
And AI is Not the Solution People are Seeking...
There are Two Words that People are Focusing On...
Regeneration...
Legacy...
The Future will be Built by those Who Design Regenerative Legacies.
The Value of a Company will Not be Based on a False Perception...
But by the Real World Impact that the Company is Creating...
For Today's Humans...
And the Future of Humanity.
Built by Individuals who are Not Hailed for their "Intelligence"...
But for their Wisdom.
Sages will Run these Future Organizations.
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